Procedure

Expediency

The Competition Authority aims to arrive at carefully reasoned decision within reasonable time limits. The following factors will often determine the time that a case is in progress at the Authority:

• Scope: Cases before the Competition Authority vary in scope and complexity. Decisions posted on the website range from two pages to almost a thousand pages.
• Parties: The greater the number of parties and viewpoints to be investigated, the longer the duration of a case. It is often forgotten that waiting for information and viewpoints accounts for a substantial proportion of the time that a case will take.
• Requirement for careful procedure: Administrative legislation imposes strict rules on the Competition Authority and other administrative agencies concerning investigation, the right of protest etc. Clearly, it would often be possible to speed up proceedings at the cost of careful procedure.
• Prioritization: Urgent cases under process will often delay the progress of other cases. To give an example, a decision on intervention or annulment of a merger must, by law, be taken within statutory time limists. Merger cases are therefore processed ahead of cases which are not subject to statutory time limits.
• Human resources and capacity: The specialists working for the Competition Authority are frequently under considerable pressure. This fact and, of course, the capacity of the Authority, has an impact on the pace of procedures.
• The strategy of the Competition Authority and its performance goals have the objective of speeding up procedures. For the above reasons, however, it is not possible to exclude entirely the possibility of undesirable delays. However, there should be no delays without justifiable reasons.

Origins of cases

Cases are undertaken either on the initiative of the Authority itself or on the basis of complaints received by the Authority. Decisions to take the initiative are made on the basis of the priorities and focus of the Authority at any time. The Competition Authority will employ various means to maintain an overview of the situation in competitive markets and establish priorities based on this overview.

Anyone can submit a notification to the Competition Authority, e.g. through the “Tip us about possible competition law violations” link on the website, either under their own names or anonymously. Notifications of this kind are used to improve the overview of the markets and may lead to investigations if there is sufficient justification and as warranted by the prioritisation of tasks. Also, formal complaints can be submitted to the Competition Authority. See “Inquiries and comlaints”.

The Competition Authority decides on investigations

The Competition Authority decides which cases are  investigated based, among other things, on the priorities of the Authority at any time. In any year, the Competition Authority will have predetermined financial resources at its disposal. For obvious reasons, therefore, the Authority is unable to investigate all cases which may be important from the point of view of the party submitting a complaint or notification.

Those who address themselves to the Authority are not therefore automatically entitled to the acceptance of their cases for process, nor are they automatically parties to such cases. There are both requirements relating to submitted complaints and in addition the Competition Authority will assess whether a complaint gives sufficient causes for investigation. If a complaint does not meet the above conditions concerning form and content, it is nevertheless filed as a notification/tip which may later lead to an investigation.

Rules of procedure of the Competition Authority

Further provisions on the rules of procedure of the Competition Authority are laid down in Rules No. 880/2005, and in addition further information on Inquiries and complaints is available on the Authority's website.