Competition Policy

Summary report on the competition policy in Norway

Effective use of society’s resources is a central element in the Government’s policies. Competition is an important instrument in order to reach the goal of obtaining a well functioning and reasonably priced production of goods and services in the private as well as the public sector, to the benefit of the consumers. (Government, a)

This is what you can read if you go to the main page of the Norwegian government’s web site for competition policy. There are two sets of competition legislations that undertakings operating in Norway are obliged to comply: The Norwegian Competition Act and the competition rules applicable to undertakings of the EEA agreement. The Competition Act is partly harmonized with EU competition rules and includes prohibitions against cartels and abuse of dominance (Konkurransetilsynet 2015a).

It is the job of The Competition Authority to enforce the Law of Competition, which is made by the Norwegian government and the Ministry of Trade, Industries and Fisheries (Government, b). Here is how the Competition Act describes the responsibilities of The Competition Authority (Konkurransetilsynet):

Section 9 – Responsibilities of the Competition Authority

The Competition Authority shall supervise competition in the various markets, among other things by:

1. ensuring adherence to the prohibitions and orders of this Act;
2. intervening where necessary against concentrations;
3. implementing measures to promote market transparency;
4. enforcing Articles 53 and 54 of the EEA Agreement; and
5. calling attention to any restrictive effects on competition of public measures and, where appropriate, submitting proposals aimed at furthering competition and facilitating market access by new competitors. If the Competition Authority so requires, a response from the public body responsible for the measure must be made within the deadline specified by the Competition Authority. The response must include inter alia a discussion of how the competition concerns will be dealt with.

The Competition Authority is obliged to provide guidance to undertakings as to the interpretation of this Act, its scope and its application in individual cases.

The Competition Authority states that one can assume a dominant position if an enterprise has a market share of 50 percent or more over a certain period of time. They also state that although it cannot be excluded, an enterprise will rarely have a dominant position if they have a market share of less than 40 percent. Market share is not the only criteria they take to consideration when analyzing market dominance. They also look at number of competitors and their market share, entry barriers in the market, and the existence of purchasing power in the market (Konkurransetilsynet 2007, translated by myself)