Danish media agency accepts fine of €301,800 for customer sharing

Published

Aug 17 2020

Written By

I am an Associate in the EU & Competition and International Projects and Procurement groups. I work with a strong commitment to achieve pragmatic and measurable commercial solutions for our clients.

Morten Nissen

Partner
Denmark

I'm a partner and co-head of our international Competition & EU group. I also lead the Competition & EU team in Denmark. I have a particular focus on applying competition & EU law as a tool to achieve specific and measurable business objectives for our clients.

A Danish media agency, Mediacenter Danmark A/S (‘Mediacenter’) entered into a customer sharing agreement from November 2013 to December 2014 with their competitor MPE Distribution (‘MPC’) in the market for distribution of unaddressed mail.

MPC decided to notify the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority (‘DCCA’) of the agreement and assisted the DCCA throughout the case.

The DCCA concluded that the agreement between the companies infringed the prohibition against anti-competitive agreements in the Danish Competition Act. Subsequently, Mediacenter appealed the case to the Maritime and Commercial Court, which ultimately decided to uphold the decision of the DCCA.

The DCCA referred the case to the State Prosecutor for Serious and Economic Crime in order for a fine to be imposed. The State Prosecutor for Serious and Economic Crime ultimately imposed a fine of € 301,800 on Mediacenter for the infringement of the Danish Competition Act. Furthermore, a member of management in Mediacenter also received a personal fine of € 6,700.

MPE was dismissed of the charges and granted total immunity in exchange for their assistance to the DCCA throughout the case.

Please refer to the DCCA’s decision here (only available in Danish) or an English overview here.

For more information please contact Morten Nissen or Frederik Haugsted.