Competition law

With a compliance programme, our competition experts will review the company's activities and procedures. The programme serves two purposes - partly to identify violations of the competition rules and help the company bring these to an end, and partly to teach the basic elements of competition law to the company's employees. The risk of future violations is thereby minimized. The company will receive a manual describing the procedures in case of unannounced inspections - so-called "dawn raids". Horten's compliance programme is available in various versions and is adapted to the individual company's needs.

If a company receives an unannounced visit from the competition authorities, this will usually give rise to a number of questions during the inspection. To what are the authorities allowed to have access? How are the employees to act, and are they to answer the questions asked?

In these situations, Horten's competition team may quickly arrive to ensure that  the inspection runs smoothly. After the inspection, there will be correspondence with the authorities. Horten may assist in this connection to safeguard the company's interests and views on the matter.

Read about the most important dos and don'ts here.

Horten has wide experience reporting mergers to the Danish competition authorities and to the European Commission. If the merger takes place by way of an acquisition, our M&A specialists will assist with due diligence and corporate advice. If the merger is part of an international transaction, we co-operate with foreign law firms on the simultaneous reporting of mergers to competition authorities in several European countries.

Horten assists companies with merger filings to the Danish authorities and to the European Commission, coordination of cross-border transactions and contact to foreign attorneys in connection with notifications in other jurisdictions.

You can get an overview of the turnover thresholds for the European countries at Horten's Merger Control Poster here.

If a company has entered into anti-competitive agreements with its competitors thereby participating in a cartel, and the company wishes to leave the cartel, Horten may assist with the correct legal advice. A company may apply for leniency if having participated in a cartel. Horten will assist with the preparation of the application for leniency to the competition authorities and with the subsequent co-operation with the authorities.

Anti-competitive agreements are illegal. But when is an agreement in fact anti-competitive? Horten advises on the conclusion of agreements and identifies the competition issues at hand. This may be relevant when entering into more complex agreements, e.g. distribution agreements, exclusive distributor agreements or agency agreements. Here, Horten may assist the client manoeuvring through the various rules to ensure that the company attains its object safely.

Horten has in-depth experience assessing the dominant position of companies in relation to the construction of the Danish competition rules and current EU rules. We advise on e.g. discriminating discounts, refusals to deliver or unreasonably low prices. We represent dominant companies and companies suspecting competitors, suppliers or co-operation partner of abusing a dominant position. Our advice ensures that new and existing agreements do not violate the prohibition against abuse of a dominant position.

Knowledge of the competition rules is of great value to both companies and their staff. It minimizes the risk of the rules being violated and gives the staff the correct knowledge of how to behave. If a company is being investigated by the competition authorities, it is also very important to know the rules.

We offer targeted training and education providing the correct knowledge to the company and its staff. Our training is tailored to the specific company and focuses on the relevant rules, industry-specific pitfalls and the competition authorities’ unannounced inspection visits.

The training must be easily accessible. Therefore, we have developed an e-learning programme which the employees may participate in when convenient and irrespective of their location. The training is based on cases where the participants are presented with specific situations and different answers. It is further possible to document the training so that the company can show that relevant compliance initiatives have been implemented.