The Legal 500

On 14 February 2012, a committee appointed to undertake a broad review of the Norwegian Competition Act issued a report proposing several important amendments to Norway's merger control regime, including significantly increased filing thresholds.

Update 2011 - Competition law in Norway

Merger control
4 Notifying transactions to the NCA
7 The Norwegian merger control regime: Distinctive features
9 M&A due diligence: disclosing sensitive information

Uavhengig av bransje, er det mange firmaer som vegrer seg mot å ta rettslige skritt overfor konkurrenter som ikke følger spillereglene.

When the competition gets too aggressive - what do you do?

Regardless of industry, many companies are reluctant to take legal action against competitors that do not follow the rules.

Article by Frode Støle and Kaja Breivik Furuseth in Norwegian energy industry journal No. 6/2010 about the proposed Norwegian implementation of the EU Remedies Directive (Directive 2007/66/EC).

Background: Attacks by Somali pirates are still commonplace and the fall-out from kidnappings of individuals and seizures of ships by pirates are still being dealt with by insurance companies, P&I clubs, arbitration tribunals, courts of law and national governments.

On 23 March 2010, the Court of Justice of the European Union gave its awaited decision in the trademark dispute between Louis Vuitton Malletier SA and Google France SARL et al, concerning Google’s advertising service AdWords. The Court found that Google does not violate trademark rights by offering advertisers to purchase search terms that are identical to registered trademarks. However, Google can still be held liable for contributory infringement on certain conditions. Pursuant to the judgement, the trademark holder will in any event be able to prohibit advertisers from using protected trademarks as search terms, if the use makes it more difficult for the ordinary internet user to determine whether the product originates from the advertiser or the trademark holder.

The European Commission’s new block exemption regulation for the insurance sector entered into force on 1 April 2010. The new regulation renews (with certain amendments) the block exemption of agreements concerning joint compilations, tables and studies, and common coverage of certain types of risk (pools). In contrast, cooperation concerning standard policy conditions and cooperation concerning security devices are no longer block exempted. The changes, coupled with the Commission’s plans to closely monitor the insurance sector, mean that insurance companies are well advised to consider their business practices to ensure compliance with the competition laws.

The proposed acquisition of the Sunkost chain of consumer health products by Validus ASA, the major wholesaler of consumer health products on the Norwegian market, was prohibited by the NCA on 29 JUne. The parties to the merger have a last chance of appeal to the Ministry of Government Administration and Reform. This will delay the final outcome with another 60 working days, in a case that commenced by a simplified notification on September 24th 2008.

The amendments to the competition act came into force 1 July 2008. On 7 March 2008 the Norwegian Ministry of Government Administration and Reform presented a proposal for amendments to the Competition Act of 5 March 2004 (White paper (Ot.prp.) No. 35 (2007-2008)). The proposal was approved by the preparatory meeting of the Council of State the same day, and adopted by the King in Council 20 June 2008. The amendments came into force 1 July 2008.

On 17 March 2009, a Norwegian High Court held that a non-compete clause in an agreement regarding quarrying rights was contrary to the prohibition against anti-competitive agreements. The High Court held that the non-compete clause had the object of restricting competition and consequently was void. This is the first court case in which Norway’s 2004 Competition Act has been applied in a dispute between two private parties.

This Update is dedicated to recent developments and important case-law and decisional practice under Norwegian competition rules in 2008. The articles have been prepared by lawyers of Wikborg Rein’s competition law practice group and aim at providing useful information to businesses operating in Norway and their legal advisors.

On 4 February 2009 the Norwegian Competition Authority announced that it has issued its first fine ever for implementing a transaction before it has been cleared. The Norwegian shipbroker RS Platou was fined for having implemented its acquisition of control of Glitnir Securities, a Norwegian subsidiary of the Icelandic banking group, before the transaction was notified to the Competition Authority.

6th February 2009 - The Norwegian Competition Authority issues its first fine for breach of the new standstill obligation

Amendments to Norwegian merger control rules
The Norwegian Competition Act will be amended as of 1 July 2008. The amendments entering into force on this date mainly concern merger control, in particular the repeal of the filing deadline, introduction of automatic suspention and new content requirements for notifications. The very low thresholds for notification in Norway are not affected by the amendments.

1. INTRODUCTION

On the 3rd of September 2004 the European Commission released its Statement of Objections against Tomra. The Commission is of the opinion that Tomra has exploited its dominant market position in several European markets. The alleged abuse is partly due to having entered into exclusive purchase agreements with customers and partly due to use of loyalty rebates. The alleged violations shall have taken place in different time periods during the last ten years in the various markets.