District court overturns decision of the Competition Appeals Tribunal

The Reykjavík District Court ruled on Friday ruling
Appeals Committee for Competition Affairs from 2 December 2021. The District Court reached
to the conclusion that Samskip has a legitimate interest in obtaining a resolution
of the appellate board on certain matters in agreement
Eimskip's dispute with the Competition Authority from 16 June 2021.

With the settlement, Eimskip admitted serious breaches of the ban.
in competition with unlawful collusion, paid 1.5 billion króna in
an administrative fine and committed to taking specific measures in
with a view to preventing further infringements and promoting competition. This included, among other things,
otherwise, Eimskip committed to cease all competition-restricting cooperation
with Samskip and other companies in any kind of transport service if Samskip should
also in collaboration with the relevant companies. This is described in more detail in the third paragraph.
Article 3 of the agreement.

Following the settlement, Samskip filed a complaint with
the Competition Appeals Tribunal and demanded that the relevant provision of the settlement
that the termination of the cooperation would be annulled. Samskip considered, among other things, that instructions
the settlement involved an unlawful restriction on freedom of contract and freedom of occupation
of the company and weakened its position vis-à-vis Eimskip.

It was the conclusion of the Competition Appeal Board that
Samskip would not have been entitled to be involved in the making of the settlement with Eimskip and
the company could therefore not refer the relevant provision of the settlement to
the appeal board. In this connection, it was noted that the Samskip's involvement in
the investigation was still ongoing. The appeal board therefore considered it unavoidable to refer
Dear Samskipa from the committee.

In a district court ruling from last Friday, a decision was made
of the appellate board, as previously stated, is annulled and it is concluded
that Samskip has a legitimate interest in obtaining a substantive decision from the Appeal Board in
the matter.

The Competition Authority will now review the district court's decision.
and his premises. The judgment can be accessed here.