Supreme Court: Road marking consortium was illegal

Facts on the road marking case 

The so-called road marking case concerns the question whether the two undertakings LKF Vejmarkering (now GVCO) and Eurostar Danmark infringed upon the Danish Competition Act when they formed Dansk Vejmarkerings Konsortium (Danish Road Marking Consortium) and submitted a joint bid on a project from the Danish Road Directorate. 

In February 2014, the Danish Road Directorate called for tenders regarding road marking in three districts of Denmark respectively South Denmark, Zealand and the Capital area. The tender concerned the years 2014 – 2017.

At the time, LKF Vejmarkering and Eurostar Danmark were among the largest contractors within road marking in Denmark. The consortium submitted separate bids for each of the three districts, as well as a bid for the whole project.

Based on the verdict, the Danish Competition and Consumer Authorities will update its guidelines “Joint bidding under competition law”, which is aimed at undertakings considering to form a consortium.

In June 2015, the Danish Competition Council found, that the consortia agreement violated the Danish Competition Act. In 2016, the Competition Appeal Tribunal upheld this decision. Thereafter the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court came to the conclusion that the consortium was legal and revoked both earlier decisions. In august 2018, the Danish Competition Council appealed the verdict to the Danish Supreme Court.