In the decision of the Competition Authority of 16 June last. No. 20/2006 Skífan (now Dagur Group) was found guilty of abusing its dominant market position, thereby breaching the prohibition clauses of the Competition Act. Skífan did this by entering into unlawful agreements with Hagkaup for the sale of CDs and computer games, in 2003 and 2004 respectively, both of which involved so-called exclusive purchasing arrangements and anti-competitive discounts. Exclusive purchasing in this context means that Hagkaup committed to purchasing a specified high proportion of all the aforementioned products wholesale exclusively from Skífan. The agreements effectively excluded Skífu's competitors in the wholesale of the specified products from doing business with Hagkaup, which is a major retailer of, among other things, compact discs.
Through these actions, Skífan reiterated its breach of competition law, which was addressed in a decision by the Competition Council from 2001 and a Supreme Court judgment from 2004. This new breach by Skífan was more extensive than the company's earlier one.
Dagur Group appealed the matter to the Competition Appeals Board, which issued its ruling yesterday. In its ruling, the Appeals Board upheld the decision of the Competition Authority. The panel considers that Skífan's infringement was both obvious and serious, and that the company's representatives must have been aware that the agreements in question contravened competition law and a 2001 decision by the Competition Council. The Competition Authority's finding that Skífan must pay a fine of 65 million króna for these infringements was upheld.
See the full judgment No. 4/2006.
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