Fall Meeting 2022 Roundtable session 4 November

Transcript:Fall Meeting 2022 Roundtable session 4 November:
Fall Meeting 2022 Roundtable session 4 November 2022 COUNTRY UPDATE, FINLAND 2 A. No changes in team members 2 2 2 Traineeship in District Court until 30.4.2023 3 A. Important legislative developments Government Bill of 19 September 2022 on lowered thresholds for merger control notifications Based on the proposal, a mandatory merger control notification obligation would apply where the combined turnover of all the parties generated in Finland exceeds EUR 100 million; the turnover generated in Finland of each of at least two parties to the transaction exceeds EUR 10 million. No right to investigate mergers below these thresholds Proposed by the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority and included in the first draft published in January 3 3 3 4 B. Relevant case law with EU importance The Market Court imposed a penalty payment for prohibited resale price maintenance pursuant to its judgment of 11 August 2022 (case IKH) The judgment concerned retailers’ online sales both on independent sites and on IKH’s own online platform The FCCA submitted that the retail price maintenance also covered sales in brick and mortar shops but could not demonstrate it The FCCA proposed a penalty payment of EUR 9 million on IKH, but the amount imposed by the Market Court remained at EUR 1.75 million 5 Case IKH IKH is an importing and ironmongery company, which operates both at the wholesale and retail levels directly and via wholly owned subsidiaries 6 Case IKH IKH had required its retailers to apply at least IKH’s recommended prices in online sales IKH and authorized retailers had discussed the recommended retail prices of IKH products and the margin accruing to the retailers in various parts of the IKH retail chain IKH had taken measures to restrict retailers’ ability to determine their own resale prices below the recommended prices removed discounts from a retailer prohibited some retailers from using the IKH trademark terminated an authorized retailer’s distribution agreement 7 IKH brand’s own market place Retail price maintenance was prohibited also in IKH’s own online platform where independent retailers had the possibility to sell the IKH products (instead of setting up their own online store) Cf. fulfilment contacts (para 193 of the new Guidelines) the online platform which is operated by a group of independent retailers under a common brand and the operator determines the price for the sale of the goods and forwards orders to the retailers for fulfilment