The decision of the Supreme Administrative Court condemning an abusive discount system applied by a dominant company shows the importance attached by the authorities to abusive pricing by dominant companies. Of significance is the fact that fines were imposed, which has occurred only a few times since the entry into force of the Competition Act in 1992.

An interesting feature of the case is how Article 86 of the EC Treaty was applied by the different authorities. The Competition Council referred to Article 86, stating that the abuse could not be considered minor given that the conduct constituted an infringement under the EC competition rules, but based its decision solely on the Competition Act. The Supreme Administrative Court, on the other hand, based its decision directly both on the Competition Act and Article 86.

Christian Wik and Satu Relander
Roschier-Holmberg & Waselius
Helsinki