Swedish Competition Law Update

Fundamental changes in Swedish competition law were introduced when the new Competition Act entered into force on July 1, 1993. The Act incorporates to a very large extent EC competition law principles. The prohibitions of Articles 85 and 86 of the Rome Treaty, corresponding to Articles 53 and 54 of the EEA Agreement, have been incorporated into the new Act. The decisions of the European Court of Justice on matters involving Articles 85 and 86 will thus have a degree of precidential value for the Swedish courts with respect to their interpretations of the Act.

The system of notifying agreements, negative clearances, block exemptions, individual exemptions, merger control, investigative powers for the supervising authority, i.e. "dawn raids", and sanctions for infringements are very similar to those in EC law.