Funding for the Competition Authority has not kept pace with the development of its caseload.

Funding for competition matters in this country has been available.
discussion in recent months and then
particularly in connection with the 2024 budget. In this regard, the Competition Authority has
Conducted an analysis of the development of funding for the organisation and put it into context.
the development of wage costs, the consumer price index, gross domestic product and
Number of companies in Iceland from 2014-2024. 

It also discusses a number of
the institution's completed works and their development over time by main projects,
in comparison with a scope of work primarily driven by development
the business life of Iceland.

The analysis has now been published on the website.
The Competition Authority which Discussion document
No. 3/2023.

The main findings of the analysis are as follows:

• Funding for the Competition Authority has
  reduced, in constant prices, by 20% from 2014 to 2024 while activity in
  The economy has increased by 35-40%.
• Funding for the supervision in 2024 would be around 1
  a billion kroner if they had followed changes in the scale of economic activity since
  in 2014 (instead of a 582 million króna contribution according to the draft budget). If
  Assuming they had remained unchanged in constant prices since 2014
  they would be about 723 million króna.
• The importance of merger cases has increased significantly
  in recent years, both due to extensive mergers and an increased focus on
  economic analysis. Due to statutory deadlines, it is always necessary to
  prioritise research on mergers over other projects. Increased pressure due to
  The merger of research affairs corresponds to an increase of 3-4 full-time equivalent posts and the change appears
  to be permanent.
• In the years 2019-2022, research into illegal
  consultation and merger-related competition concerns took up the majority of the regulator's time, or as
  equivalent to 14 man-years on average.

Background information

The Competition Authority provided the Parliamentary Budget Committee of the Althingi Review
on the draft budget in a letter dated 14 November 2023. The opinion
accompanied by a memorandum, Budget
Competition Authority – Needs Analysis and Development, where a detailed
an article on manpower deployment in recent years and an assessment of the manpower that
the supervision it needs in order to be able to carry out its legitimate role with
in a satisfactory manner.

The review and the memorandum also discuss development.
The funding of the Competition Authority from 2014 to 2024.

On 8 December 2023, the Competition Authority then sent Additional opinion
regarding the budget bill, where the committee was asked to make financial allocations
for the supervision to be taken up for further discussion when the bill came to
to the committee after the second reading.