Cartels
What is the sanction?
Companies and executives risk heavy fines and even imprisonment for cartel agreements and other violations of the Danish Competition Act.
Cartel agreements and other kinds of agreements which restrict competition between companies are prohibited because they can lead to higher prices and fewer choices for consumers. Therefore, companies involved in such anti-competitive agreements can be sanctioned with multi-million-kroner fines.
It is not only the company that can be sanctioned. Executives and board members may also be sanctioned with fines of up to several hundred thousand kroner. In addition, persons who enter into cartel agreements or seek to initiate or otherwise contribute to a cartel agreement can also be sanctioned with imprisonment. In serious cases, cartel agreements are sanctionable by 1½ years of imprisonment. In the case of particularly aggravating circumstances, the penalty may rise to 6 years of imprisonment.
Other kinds of infringement of the Danish Competition Act
Cartel agreements are not the only infringements of the Danish Competition Act that can be sanctioned. Other kinds of infringements of the Act that can be sanctioned, such as resale price maintenance or abuse of a dominant position, can also be sanctioned with large fines for the company and its executives and board members.