Beyond The Boiling Point ' Companies And Employees Fined For Coordinating Prices For Servicing Natural Gas Furnaces

• Published date: 26 May 2022
• Subject Matter: Anti-trust/Competition Law, Energy and Natural Resources, Antitrust, EU Competition , Oil, Gas & Electricity
• Law Firm: Bird & Bird
• Author: Mr Alexander Br'chner and Morten Nissen

Following a Danish High Court judgement concerning illegal price fixing by a natural gas company, a trade association and two subcontractors, the Danish Competition Council reported the infringement to the State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime leading to criminal cases against (and significant fines levied on) two companies and four individuals.

Last year a natural gas company, Hovedstadsregionens og Midt-Nords Naturgasselskab I/S ("HMN"), a trade association and two subcontractors, were found to have infringed Article 6(1) of the Danish Competition Act (equivalent to Article 101(1) TFEU) (Please refer to our article on this case here).

In the case examined by the Danish High Court, the parties had entered into two agreements, by which the parties had agreed: (i) to raise the end-user price of HMN's servicing of heaters, which would allow the subcontractors to raise their subscription prices, and (i) to lower the prices charged to HMN's customers by the sub-contractors for spare parts.

The parties argued that the agreements should be regarded as one agreement which would not have an anti-competitive effect as the agreement did not solely contain a price-fixing agreement, but also contained an agreement to lower other prices, resulting in a lower total price paid by the customers. Nonetheless, the High Court found that the agreements should be considered as two distinct agreements, which, as a result of the anti-competitive intent, infringed Article 6(1) of the Danish Competition Act.

Following the High Court judgement, the Danish Competition Council reported the...