The Norwegian Government has approved a new Nordic cooperation agreement for competition cases.
– The agreement makes it easier to detect competition law offences across borders, and represents an important milestone in the Nordic cooperation on competition law enforcement, says Director General Lars Sørgard.
The agreement makes it possible for Nordic countries to conduct inspections on behalf of each other. The agreement also facilitates the exchange of confidential information between countries in both antitrust and merger cases.
The purpose of the new Nordic cooperation agreement is to remove obstacles to an efficient cooperation on competition law enforcement between the Nordic competition authorities.
– Limited possibilities for gathering information and evidence from other Nordic countries has led to a weakening of enforcement in a number of cases. The strengthened Nordic co-operation resulting from the new agreement will lead to a more efficient enforcement of the competition rules and a strengthening of competition to the best of consumers, says Sørgard.
The new agreement replaces a Nordic agreement on cooperation in competition cases from 2001. Changes brought about by the new agreement made it necessary to amend and clarify the Norwegian Competition Act on some points. These amendments and clarifications were adopted by the Norwegian Parliament on 11 June 2019.