In our latest article for Concurrences’ e-Competitions Bulletin, we discuss the main developments in competition law enforcement across the Nordic countries over the past year. The level of enforcement activity has remained relatively high both in merger control and antitrust and state aid matters.
Economics remains central to enforcement, particularly in complex merger and antitrust cases, and its importance is expected to continue growing. Some of the competition authorities in the region have been equipped with additional powers to call in mergers that fall below the normal notification thresholds and to investigate potential competition issues with “market investigation tools”. At the same time, some actively employ the Towercast jurisprudence to scrutinise below-threshold transactions.
In the article, we highlight that:
● Competition authorities are increasingly investigating non-horizontal theories of harm and scrutinising local market effects.
● Economic analysis has been pivotal in recent antitrust and merger cases, including those involving digital platforms and healthcare.
● The rise in State aid to support the green transition is driving demand for rigorous economic assessment.
● Legislative changes across the Nordics are expanding the toolkit for effective competition enforcement.
We explore these trends, and more, in depth in our foreword on Nordic Competition Law.
Click the link below to read the article (free access after sign-up).
