Competition Law
We have a strong team of lawyers with extensive expertise in competition law, public procurement, state aid, and EU/EEA law. These are highly demanding areas of law, which have a significant impact on both the private and public sectors.
Our team of lawyers work with each of these areas of law on a daily basis, and has the experience, competence and capacity to handle any type of case.
The competition rules are in a constant state of development, and are often applied strictly by both national and supra-national competition authorities. Many companies experience that authorities have an increasing focus on how markets work, as well as how competition is affected by merger activity and as a result of different forms of cooperation. This is the reason that many companies rely on our competition team, to ensure that their activities are carried out within the framework of the competition law rules.
Our competition lawyers handle cases before the Norwegian and international competition authorities and courts. In addition to their experience as lawyers, our team can draw on their experience from leading positions in the Norwegian Competition Authority, the EFTA Surveillance Authority, the UK Competition and Markets Authority, the European Commission, international law firms in London and Brussels, the Norwegian National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime, and from both the Norwegian courts and the EFTA Court.
We offer
Legal and strategic advice in all types of cases, including the following:
- Assisting with the competition law aspects of acquisitions, mergers, the establishment of joint ventures and other forms of transactions, including the notification of transactions to the Norwegian Competition Authority, the European Commission and/or other international competition authorities
- Assisting with the drafting and review of distribution agreements, licence agreements and other forms of cooperation, so that they do not come into conflict with the competition law rules on the prohibition of anti-competitive agreements
- Guiding companies being investigated for unlawful cooperation – for example market sharing, price fixing or bid rigging – through the investigation process, from dawn raids or a leniency application to appeals and follow-on damages litigation
- Assessing the terms of exclusivity agreements, rebate agreements, refusals to supply or other behaviour that might lead to a company abusing a dominant position, as well as advising (dominant) companies as to how they can best adapt to the competition rules. Our team also provides assistance to companies in connection with complaints submitted to national and international competition authorities regarding abuses committed by dominant players
- The development of internal guidelines, compliance materials and routines to help ensure that companies avoid unintentionally breaching the competition law rules, as well as to provide guidance as to how companies should conduct themselves in case they become involved in an investigation
Global Competition Review
Our competition team is ranked in the "Elite" category in Global Competition Review's 2023 edition of GCR 100.
Read our articles on Competition Law
Transaction tips from our competition team: Merger referrals under Article 22 EUMR
In most instances, only transactions with an EU dimension - that is transactions where the parties involved exceed certain turnover thresholds - qualify for review by the European Commission ("the Commission") under the EU Merger Regulation ("the EUMR"). However one mechanism, found in Article 22 EUMR, allows one or more Member States to request the Commission to examine, on behalf of those Member States, any concentration that does not have an EU dimension but affects trade between Member States and threatens to significantly affect competition within the territory of the Member State(s) making the request.
Transaction tips from our competition team: Ex-post review of non-notifiable mergers
When we think about competition law in M&A, we often jump straight to considering merger control and whether a transaction might need notifying to one or more competition authorities. If notifications are not required, for example because the parties do not satisfy relevant jurisdictional (e.g., turnover) thresholds, then in nearly all cases this provides legal certainty that a transaction can close without a competition authority having an opportunity to review the deal.
Proposed amendments to the Norwegian Security Act – expansion of the FDI rules
On Friday 31 March, the Government submitted a bill proposing amendments to the Norwegian Security Act. The proposed changes may mean that far more transactions will be subject to FDI screening, and changes in the procedural rules may have a major impact on deals, not least with respect to deal timetable.
