The Norwegian Competition Appeals Tribunal has upheld the decision of the Norwegian Competition Authority, confirming that Coop, Norgesgruppen and Rema 1000 violated the Norwegian Competition Act by agreeing to grant each other extensive access to pricing information through so-called “price hunters.”
– We are pleased that the Competition Appeals Tribunal unanimously agrees with our assessment. The cooperation increased price transparency between the grocery chains, without providing consumers with better information. Unlawful coordination between competitors harms consumers, and we are pleased that the Tribunal agrees that this cooperation must cease, says Acting Director General Gjermund Nese.
The Tribunal’s decision means that the fines totalling NOK 4.9 billion imposed on the three grocery chains will remain in force.
– The groceries market affects everyone, and the Norwegian market is characterized by high market concentration and significant barriers to entry. The few chains operating in the market are not permitted to engage in conduct that restricts competition to the detriment of consumers, said Magnus Friis Reitan, Deputy Director of the Department for Food, Retail and Health.
About the case:
- Coop, Norgesgruppen and Rema account for 95% of turnover in the Norwegian groceries market.
- In 2007, ACNielsen Norge AS discontinued weekly price reporting to Norgesgruppen, Rema, Coop and Ica, after the Norwegian Competition Authority (NCA) pointed out that this kind of sharing of price information could harm competition and be illegal.
- In 2010, the grocery chains entered into the “Industry Standard for Comparative Advertising”, which was intended to provide guidelines for the chains’ use of advertising based on price comparisons. The standard established that price comparisons should be documented, and it contained a provision stipulating that the chains could visit each other’s stores to collect prices in order to document claims made in price comparisons.
- In 2011, the chains agreed that the standard’s provision concerning access to each other’s stores should be practiced in such a way that the parties had access to collect large quantities of price information with the use of hand scanners.
- In 2012, the chains agreed on a further expansion of price hunters’ access to the parties’ grocery stores.
- In 2016, the NCA initiated a preliminary project to investigate information sharing between Norwegian grocery store chains.
- The NCA conducted unannounced inspections at the grocery chains’ premises in April 2018, and has reviewed an extensive collection of seized documents.
- The Authority has also taken statements from representatives from the chains.
- The case concerns violations of Section 10 of the Norwegian Competition Act, and the corresponding provision in Article 53 of the EEA Agreement, which prohibits cooperation between independent undertakings that has the purpose or effect of restricting competition.
- On 15 December 2020, The Competition Authority notified the chains, in a Statement of Objections, of the NCA’s preliminary assessment that the parties’ cooperation providing access for each other’s “price hunters” violated the competition act, by having an anticompetitive ‘effect’ as well as by having an anticompetitive ‘object.’
- In January 2024, the chains were informed that the NCA discontinued its investigation of an anti-competitive object, and that the NCA would continue its investigation into a possible anti-competitive effect.
- A supplementary Statement of Objections concerning adjusted fines was sent to the parties on 10 April 2024.
- The grocery chains were fined a total of 4.9 billion NOK on 21 August 2024.
- The chains were also ordered to cease the cooperation in question as well as any cooperation with similar effects on 21 August 2024.
- The Competition Appeals Tribunal fully upheld the Competition Authority’s decision on 21 August 2025.
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Acting Director General Gjermund Nese
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Magnus Friis Reitan, Deputy Director of the Department for Food, Retail and Health.
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