Estimated benefits of the Competition Authority's interventions 2013-2022

In recent quarters, the Competition Authority has independently calculated the benefits of its interventions, whereas the National Audit Office has, among other things, emphasised that such an assessment should be carried out. The Competition Authority has published Publication No. 4/2023, 'Estimated Benefits of the Competition Authority's Interventions, 2013-2022', in which the full findings of the analysis are published for the first time. The Competition Authority plans to publish an annual report from now on, presenting the calculated benefits, and this is the first of these reports.

This analysis is based on the OECD's criteria, the Guide for helping competition authorities assess the expected impact of their activities. The criteria are based on the work of the OECD, academics, competition authorities in various OECD member countries and previous research on the economic effects of competition enforcement. It also builds on the methodology used by the Competition Directorate of the European Commission in comparable analysis, which in turn is fundamentally based on the OECD guidelines.

The estimated benefit of the Competition Authority's interventions concerning collusion, abuse of a dominant position and restrictive mergers over the ten-year period 2013-2022 amounted to 0.31-0.52% of gross domestic product in the same period, or equivalent to 18-30 times the institution's funding for the period.

The estimated benefit was on average 10.0-16.9 million tonnes of CO2 per year during the period 2013-2022, of which 4.4-7.0 million euros was due to intervention in cartel infringements, 1.8-3.6 million euros due to intervention in abuse of a dominant position, and 3.8-6.3 million euros due to the annulment or conditional approval of restrictive mergers. Amounts are in 2022 prices.

The above findings correspond to an annual calculated benefit of approximately 30-50 thousand krónur per person, based on population and gross domestic product for the year 2022. If the benefits targeted in the financial plan are divided equally among all citizens, it can be assumed that each person's share could amount to 50,000 krónur per year.