By a ruling of the Competition Appeals Board in Case no. 3/2023, Brim hf. v. The Competition Authority, the decision of the Competition Authority no. 29/2023 is annulled. That decision imposed daily fines on Brim hf. to compel the submission of data for an investigation into the management and ownership structures of fisheries companies. The Competition Authority had entered into an agreement with the Ministry of Food which provided funding for the project.
A ruling by the appeals board concluded that it is not consistent with the role assigned to the Competition Authority under the Competition Act, as an independent administrative authority, to enter into specific agreements with the government regarding individual investigations. The ruling also concludes that the Competition Authority does not have the authority to exercise its powers in relation to investigations that, in the opinion of the Appeals Board, are not established in this way. In light of this, the Board concludes that the conditions for imposing daily fines on Brim are not met.
Following the aforementioned ruling, the Competition Authority considers the basis for its agreement with the Ministry of Food to have been removed and will request negotiations with the Ministry to terminate it.
As has been publicly reported and as was stated in the Competition Authority's submissions to the Appeal Board, the Competition Authority made an independent decision to initiate an investigation into the management of- and ownership links in the fishing industry, in accordance with the clear powers and remit of the Authority. Thus, the Competition Authority has the task of examining management and ownership links in Icelandic business life and writing reports on the matter, see Article 8(1)(d) of the Competition Act No. 44/2005. The Competition Authority has, in various past rulings and publicly stated priorities, pointed out the importance of such an investigation.
In light of the above and the ruling of the appeals board, the Competition Authority intends to launch a new investigation into the management and ownership structures of fisheries companies. Furthermore, the Competition Authority will again request information from fisheries companies, which will give the companies concerned the opportunity to update and, where necessary, supplement their previous responses.
As the new review will not be supported by specific funding, unlike the previous one, it is highly likely that the review and the publication of a report based on it will take longer than originally anticipated, as the review will be subject to the standard prioritisation within the supervisory authority. For example, investigations into merger notifications will take priority due to statutory deadlines.
As previously reported, the Competition Authority has aimed to and has promoted increased cooperation among public bodies that have a role in the supervision of or collection of information on management and ownership relationships.
The intention was to utilise the experience from the investigation into the management and ownership structures of fisheries companies for this purpose. The Competition Authority will continue to aim to strengthen cooperation with other governments in this area of work. However, it is likely that this work will be delayed for the same reasons as outlined above.
The Competition Authority has for a long time drawn the attention of the government to the straitjacket in which it is confined in order to carry out its statutory role. In its submission to the Budget Committee during the last parliamentary session, the Competition Authority pointed out the importance of increased operational flexibility, inter alia, to cope with fluctuations in the workload associated with merger cases and to establish a sustained monitoring of management and ownership links.
The agreement between the Competition Authority and the Ministry of Food was part of the Authority's efforts to address this problem. The decision of the Competition Appeal Tribunal provides ample grounds for further discussion of the Competition Authority's operational remit in the budgetary sphere.
According to paragraph 1(d) of Article 8, the role of the Competition Authority is „to monitor developments in competitive and business practices in specific markets within the Icelandic business sector and to examine the management and ownership links between companies; this shall be done, inter alia, for the purpose of assessing whether the Icelandic business life exhibits characteristics of collusion, undesirable connections or concentration of power that may limit competition; the authority shall publish reports on its observations and take action to promote effective competition where necessary.“
The Competition Authority has, in light of previous rulings, considered it important to enhance the overview of management and ownership links in the Icelandic fishing industry. In this regard, the Authority has, among other things, taken the following points into account:
Á information page Further information about the investigation that has been under way can be obtained from the Competition Authority.
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