On 3 April 2025, the Swedish Competition Authority (the “SCA”) fined three digital healthcare providers—MinDoktor, Doktor.se, and Doktor24—for entering into anticompetitive agreements with Kry, another provider of online healthcare services. These bilateral agreements, which related to advertising s...
On 27 March 2025, the Swedish Competition Authority (the “SCA”) adopted new regulations and general guidelines on merger notifications, KKVFS 2025:1, which will enter into force on 26 May 2025. The regulations and guidelines contain instructions for the notification and the information required when...
On 21 March 2025, the Patent and Market Court (the “Court”) rejected Tapwell AB’s (“Tapwell”) appeal against the Swedish Competition Authority’s (the “SCA”) decision to impose a fine of SEK 16.9 million (approximately MEUR 1.5). This is the highest fine imposed by the SCA since it obtained fining po...
On March 7, 2025, the investigation report SOU 2025:22 – Improved Competition in the Public and Private Sectors – was published. This investigation was commissioned by the Swedish Government to analyse and propose new legislative measures aimed at strengthening competition in Sweden. The investigati...
On 24 February 2025, the Swedish Competition Authority (the “SCA”) submitted an official letter to the Swedish Government, proposing significant amendments to the Swedish merger control rules. The proposed changes emerge from the SCA’s own initiative, calling on the Swedish Government to initiate a...
Background On 26 October 2023, the Swedish Competition Authority (the “SCA”) issued its first fining decision under the Swedish Unfair Trading Practices Act (the “UTP Act”), which implements the 2019 EU directive on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural a...
The European Commission (the “Commission”) recently decided to withdraw its guidance on the referral mechanism in Article 22 of the EU Merger Regulation (“EUMR”). This is a consequence of the Illumina/Grail judgement, where the European Court of Justice (the “CJEU”) held that the Commission may not...
On 31 October the European Commission (the “Commission”) fined the global pharmaceutical company Teva €462.6 million for abusing its dominant position by delaying competition for its multiple schlerosis (MS) blockbuster medicine, Copaxone. According to the Commission, Teva both artificially extended...
Earlier this year, International Flavors & Fragrances (“IFF”) was fined €15.9 million for obstructing an unannounced inspection (commonly known as “dawn raid”) carried out by the European Commission through the deletion of Whatsapp messages exchanged with a competitor. This underlines the import...
Corruption and unlawful influence undermine fair competition in the market, discouraging legitimate companies from investing in business development. To combat these challenges, the Swedish Government has introduced the Action Plan Against Corruption and Unlawful Influence for 2024-2027 (Sw. Handlin...
Introduction and background On 8 February 2024, the European Commission (the “Commission”) adopted a revised Market Definition Notice (the “Notice”). Defining a relevant market is a necessary step when assessing the market power of an undertaking in merger control and antitrust cases. This provides...
On 20 December 2023, the Swedish Competition Authority (“SCA”) issued a decision against a manufacturer of kitchen and bathroom faucets and showers for having fixed the prices and terms for the online resale of its products, i.e. resale price maintenance (“RPM”). The fine of MSEK 16.9 (approximately...