Today has Supreme Court of Iceland A judgment was delivered in the cartel case of Olíuverslunin Íslands hf., Skeljungur hf. and Ker hf. (formerly Olíufélagið hf.). The Supreme Court's decision means that the companies' case is dismissed by the district court. In its judgment of 22 March 2012, the court ruled that District Court of Reykjavík The decision of the Competition Appeals Tribunal of 31 January 2005 imposing administrative fines totalling 1.5 billion krone on the companies for their long-standing collusion is upheld. Today's Supreme Court judgment means that the appeals authority's decision on the fines stands.
The background to the case is that the competition authority took decision on 28 October 2004 and concluded that Olíuverslun Íslands, Skeljungur and Olíufélagið (now Ker hf.) had committed serious breaches of competition law. The Competition Council imposed substantial fines on the companies. They appealed the Competition Council's decision to the Competition Appeals Board, which handed down ruling 31 January 2005. With that ruling, the competition authorities' proceedings concluded.
The Appeals Board largely upheld the Competition Council's findings on the infringements but reduced the fines, deeming it appropriate for them to total 1.5 billion kr. The companies' offences are the most extensive instances of collusion ever uncovered in the country, and they caused damage to the public, the business community and public authorities.
In 2005, the associations appealed the appeal board's ruling to the Reykjavík District Court. Before the district court, the Competition Authority made observations on their case and referred the matter to the court to consider whether the case should be dismissed. The proceedings in the district court took an extremely long time, particularly due to the collection of evidence in the form of expert reports, which the companies considered necessary.
In a District Court judgment of 22. March 2012 confirmed that the companies had engaged in illegal collusion and breached competition law, but the appeal board's ruling was nevertheless overturned because the court found that the companies' right to be heard had been violated. The Competition Authority could not agree with that decision and appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which delivered its judgment today.
The case of the associations is dismissed by the district court due to significant defects in their legal submissions. In the Supreme Court's view, the defect is so serious that it warrants the dismissal of the case in its entirety from the courts. The association's legal action is therefore invalid, and the aforementioned decision of the Court of Appeal stands.
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