The Competition Appeals Board today issued a ruling in relation to an appeal by Síminn hf. on a decision by the Competition Authority ordering the company to pay an administrative fine for breaches of the terms of two settlements it had entered into with the Authority on 23 January and 15 April 2015.
Í Appeals Board decision It is confirmed that Síminn has breached the settlement it made with the Competition Authority on 15 April 2015 by bundling telecommunications services and linear television services (the English Premier League on Síminn Sport) in the so-called Home Package. The ruling states that Síminn's breach is serious, as the company's conduct was contrary to the provisions of the settlement, which it had undertaken to honour in its operations. It was considered that Síminn could not have been unaware that its marketing and sale of the television channel Síminn Sport might be in breach of the settlement. In determining the amount of the fine for the breach, it was noted that Síminn had previously been found guilty of a comparable breach which resulted in an administrative fine, and the Committee considered, in light of this, that the fine for this breach should be 200 million króna.
The appeal board, however, ruled that the Competition Authority needed to investigate in more detail the position of Síminn on the market with regard to the conduct which was considered in the authority's decision to breach the settlement of 23 January 2015. For this reason, that part of the case was remitted to the Competition Authority for a fresh hearing.
The Competition Authority is now considering how it intends to respond to the ruling.
"*" indicates required fields
