Danish Competition And Consumer Authority
Publication - Competitive Markets and Consumer Welfare
On a regular basis, we will publish articles on competition and consumer issues. Among other things, the articles present analyses and professional views in a short and accessible format.
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Consumers and Companies Benefit From Transparent Green Marketing
This article outlines results from a study conducted to evaluate how well consumers understand different types of green claims, and how these claims affect willingness to pay. The study demonstrates that consumers are willing to pay more for “green” products but also, that this willingness is affected by trust and transparency in the market.
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Do Behaviorally Informed Pop-up Messages Curb Problematic Gambling Behavior?
Consumers increasingly gamble online and problematic gambling behavior is on the rise.
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The European Commission's New Vertical Block Exemption Regulation
On 1 June 2022, the European Commission’s new Block Exemption Regulation for vertical agreements and the related Guidelines on Vertical Restraints entered into force.
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Clear and intuitive disclosures benefit consumers on online marketsplaces
A new EU Directive increases the transparency of online marketplaces by requiring the clear disclosure of a range of important consumer information. The clarity, and thus effectiveness, of online disclosures can vary significantly depending on the presentation of the information, as demonstrated by the study in this article concerning paid rankings.
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Collusion detection in public procurement using computational methods
The Danish Competition and Consumer Authority (DCCA) has developed and implemented computational methods to identify suspicious bidding in public procurement.
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Inactive consumers in subscription markets
An increasing number of products are sold through subscriptions. In this study we find a high degree of consumer inactivity in subscription markets.
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Economic analysis in Danish Merger Investigations
A merger investigation may use a wide variety of different economic methods. How does the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority decide upon the most appropriate approach?
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Consumers benefit from visually salient standardized commercial disclosures on social media
Social media have become an essential part of our everyday lives. More than 85 pct. of the Danish population from the age of 12 and up are active users of social media1. However, commercial vs. social content is difficult to discern on social media and many consumers, especially children, are unable to identify advertisements on these platforms.
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New Opportunties and Challenges for Consumers in Digital Markets
This analysis by the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority highlights how digital markets are fundamentally different from traditional markets and how this difference affects consumer behaviour.
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Consumers benefit from simplified information disclosure
By law, advertisements for consumer credit must include standard information in the form of a financial disclosure. The purpose of the disclosure is to ensure that consumers understand the central financial characteristics of the loan before deciding whether to purchase it. Law also dictates that these financial disclosures must be clear, concise and placed prominently in the advertisements.
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Benchmarking and Security of Supply in the Utilities Sector
In the utilities sector, integration of security of supply in benchmarking models could affect the incentive for monopoly companies to be economically efficient. In Denmark and many other countries, benchmarking models are used to imitate competitive pressure which does not otherwise exist among natural monopoly companies in the utilities sector. The aim is to boost the incentives for companies to make cost-effective decisions.
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Danish Water Section Economics 2010-2019
In this article, we describe recent years’ economic and efficiency trends in the Danish water sector.
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Excessive Pricing in Pharmaceutical Markets
Intervention against possible exploitative and excessive prices should always be considered carefully. However, the dynamics of pharmaceutical markets makes it particularly relevant for competition authorities to prioritise cases on unfair prices
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Consumers benefit from a standardised front page to loan offers
Consumer inactivity in the mortgage market reduces consumer welfare and providers’ incentive to innovate and compete. This has led The Danish Competition Council to recommend an introduction of a simple frontpage to mortgage loan offers based on an experimental study using behavioural insights.
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Behavioural Consumer Regulation
The government’s consumer policy strategy – Consumer in a digital world – has a strong focus on how rules and legal requirements affect both businesses and consumers in the new digital reality. The strategy has prompted the Competition and Consumer Authority to review all consumer-related legislation from a behavioural perspective.
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Improving the effectiveness of terms and conditions in online trade
This article reports the results of a lab experiment that successfully enabled consumers to take notice of terms and conditions (T&Cs) in an online shopping environment and use these more when actively choosing between products.
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The challenges for present and future competition enforcement
The Danish Competition and Consumer Authority hosted an international conference in March 2018 where leading European competition experts were gathered to discuss some of the hottest topics within the world of competition enforcement such as digitalization, income distribution, fairness, Brexit, the Facebook-case in Germany and more.
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The Danish Marketing Practices Act has been given a complete overhaul and is now more user-friendly
The Danish Marketing Practices Act has been given a complete overhaul, which makes it consistent with EU regulations. The new Act has been made more comprehensible for both businesses and consumers, and helps to reduce administrative burdens for businesses. The Danish Marketing Practices Act supports good, uniform consumer conditions and is technology neutral and therefore agile with regard technological developments. The Act comes into force on 1 July 2017.
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Better access to tenders for small and medium-sized companies
Public contracting entities conduct up to 3,000 EU tenders in Denmark every year. The competition for contracts contributes to efficient use of public resources.
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Children must learn about hidden advertising on social media
Children's use of social media has exploded in recent years, and their media consumption takes place on smartphones and tablets. This often leaves them alone with a large proportion of the advertising messages to which they are exposed. The Social Star teaching material is therefore intended to teach 5th-7th graders about bidden advertising on social media.
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When Competitors own (parts of) each other
A merger, where a company acquires control of a competitor, can impede effective competition and, for example, result in higher prices and poorer product offering. Big mergers are there-fore subject to merger control.
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Swedish experiences with more freedom in the practice sector
Sweden implemented a health care reform which creates the opportunity for more effective competition in the practice sector. With the reform, health care providers received the right to freedom of establishment, and ownership restrictions have been removed, allowing anyone to own a health centre.
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Development of an efficient consumer complaints system
In 2015, Denmark implemented a new system for handling consumer complaints. Unlike before, the system focuses on mediation, with both companies and consumers involved in finding a solution to their dispute.
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