Supreme Court has today overturned a judgment District Court of Reykjavík in the case of the Competition Authority against Icelandair. The background to the case is that in June 2007, the Competition Authority confirmed Appeals Authority for Competition Decision of the Competition Authority No. 11/2007 that by promoting and selling flight tickets, so-called 'Netsmells' amounting to 16,900 kr., which were available to customers of Icelandair ehf., to customers on the route between Keflavik and Copenhagen on the one hand, and the route between Keflavik and London on the other, the company had abused its dominant market position and breached competition law. This was intended to weaken competition from Iceland Express. Icelandair was ordered to pay an administrative fine of 130 million krónur to the state treasury. Icelandair appealed the appeal board's decision to the courts.
In a judgment of the Reykjavík District Court dated 2 February 2010, the decision of the appeals board was upheld, confirming that Icelandair had a dominant position in the market and had abused it, thereby breaching Article 11 of the Competition Act. The District Court, however, considered the infringements to be less serious than those found by the Competition Appeals Board and therefore quashed the board's decision to impose a fine.
The Competition Authority did not consider it the correct decision to overturn the fine against Icelandair and appealed this ruling of the district court to the Supreme Court. The Authority therefore considered that there were defects in the district court's proceedings and, among other things, demanded that its judgment be set aside and the case remitted to the district court.
The Supreme Court has today quashed a district court judgment on the grounds that an excessive period of time elapsed between the hearing and the delivery of the judgment. The case is therefore remitted to the district court for substantive consideration.
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