The organisation pays a 4 million króna fine. The organisation is taking measures intended to ensure that competition is not distorted within the organisation.
The Competition Authority's investigation into SART's activities began following a complaint from a company at the end of last year. Electricians in the association had been forbidden from doing business with the complainant, as there was a dispute between him and an electrician within the association over the settlement of a contract between them. The Competition Authority's investigation revealed that SART had also infringed against at least three other companies during the period under investigation. SART did this by sending a notice to electricians within the association to boycott companies that were in a commercial dispute with SART members. This practice was based on the so-called 'rules of engagement' for SART's member companies.
SART acknowledge that they breached competition law by issuing and applying these communication rules. Such concerted actions by competitors and business associations to boycott one or more customers or competitors are liable to have a detrimental effect on competition. Further articles of the code of conduct involved close information exchange and co-operation between electrical contractors on sensitive commercial matters, and thus breached competition law.
During the proceedings, SART requested that the matter be settled. The association informed the Authority that it intended to remove the disputed provisions from its code of conduct and to withdraw notices to electricians regarding strikes. A settlement was reached on the outcome of the case, and the Competition Authority's decision is based on it. The settlement entails SART admitting to having breached Article 12, in light of Article 10 of the Competition Act, and the association agrees to pay a four million króna administrative fine.
When assessing the amount of the fines, regard was had to the turnover of the organisations and their member companies, in accordance with Article 37(2) of the Competition Act. Furthermore, it was taken into account that SART had admitted an infringement of competition law and had taken the initiative to eliminate the anti-competitive provisions and to take other measures to ensure that the infringement would not be repeated. Through these actions, SART has facilitated and shortened the competition authorities' investigation and changed market practices.
SART is an association of companies and Article 12 of the Competition Act prohibits such associations from engaging in any anti-competitive cooperation. The prohibition in Article 10 of the Competition Act on restrictive horizontal co-operation means that companies must independently decide how they behave in the market, including with whom they trade. Business associations must in no way undermine the independence of their members. A particularly heavy duty rests on business associations to ensure that cooperation within them does not restrict competition and thereby cause harm to consumers.
See the decision for details No. 27/2010.
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