Court of Appeal clears the Competition Authority of Samskip's claim

With Judgment of the Court of Appeal uppkveðnum í dag var Samkeppniseftirlitið sýknað af kröfu Samskipa hf. þess efnis að ógiltur yrði fyrri úrskurður áfrýjunarnefndar samkeppnismála, þar sem kæru fyrirtækisins var vísað frá nefndinni.

Tildrög málsins voru þau að Samskip kærði sátt sem Eimskipafélag Íslands hf. (Eimskip) gerði 16. júní 2021 við Samkeppniseftirlitið, þar sem fyrirtækið viðurkenndi alvarlegt samráð við Samskip, greiddi sektir og skuldbatt sig meðal annars til að hætta öllu viðskiptalegu samstarfi við Samskip. Í kæru sinni til áfrýjunarnefndar krafðist Samskip þess að felld yrðu úr gildi umrædd skilyrði um að binda enda á umrætt samstarf Eimskips við Samskip.

The Competition Appeals Tribunal dismissed Samskip's appeal on the grounds that Samskip did not have a legitimate interest in the outcome of the case, pursuant to a ruling of 2 December 2021.

Samskip did not accept the ruling and sued the Competition Authority in the Reykjavík District Court. In a judgment from the District Court on 18 November 2022, the court overturned the appeal board's decision and ruled that Samskip could challenge the legality of Eimskip's settlement before the appeal board.

However, the Landsréttur ruling today states that the settlement was binding on Eimskip but not on Samskip. By its very nature, the settlement was intended to limit the cooperation between the companies that had been investigated by the Competition Authority. In this regard, it is noted that the Competition Authority and the company entering into a settlement must be able to trust that by entering into the settlement, the company's case is concluded. A party to an investigation who has not admitted an infringement cannot be considered a party to the settlement of the party who has admitted an infringement and paid a fine. Among other things, with reference to this, Samskip was not considered to have demonstrated that the company had a legitimate interest in a ruling on what obligation Eimskip had undertaken towards the Competition Authority through the settlement.