The Department of Health and Insurance v. The Competition Authority

The Competition Appeals Tribunal overturned a decision of the Competition Authority. No. 8/2005 where the Competition Authority concluded that the decision by health authorities not to contract with clinical psychologists for public reimbursement of the costs of insured patients for mental health services had a detrimental effect on competition and went againstn markmiði samkeppnislaga. Samkeppniseftirlitið beindi þeim fyrirmælum til heilbrigðisand Insurance Minister to ensure that agreements were entered into with self-employed clinical psychologists regarding public reimbursement for the cost to insured patients of clinical psychological healthcare services. It was held that clear provisions of the Health Services Act contained specific directives which take precedence over the provisions of competition law, and that the competition authorities had no authority to intervene in the matter as was sought in the decision under appeal. The decision under appeal was therefore annulled. However, the chairman of the panel submitted a dissenting opinion, stating that he considered it correct to uphold the decision of the Competition Authority.