The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (the FCCA) has had difficulties to supervise and intervene in competition law restrictions in connection with economic activities by the state or municipal authorities. The amendment of the Competition Act concerns the supply of goods and services by the public authorities or other public institutions when they act on competitive market.
The FCCA will be given the authority to ban restrictive activities or impose obligations that will ensure competition neutrality in the relevant market, if practices of public entities distort or prevent competition in the Finnish market – and no results are achieved by negotiations.
The proposal does not cover public procurement, EU state aid or official activities of the authorities or competition restrictions based directly on legislation.
The proposal is currently handled in the Parliament by the relevant committees.
Should you be interested in hearing more about the proposed amendment, please contact Senior Associate, attorney-at-law Maarika Joutsimo on +358 50 338 8495 or maarika.joutsimo@hpplaw.fi.
