Enforcement Policy and Legislative Developments - Reporting Period : April 03 - June 03

Competition Act. The amendment of the Competition Act submitted by the Swiss Federal Council for parliamentary debate on November 7, 2001, has been enacted by Parliament on June 20, 2003. It may be recalled that, among other modifications, the amendment provides for a system of non-mandatory preliminary notification of potentially unlawful agreements and practices, the power of the FCC to impose direct administrative fines on members of a hardcore cartel and on undertakings abusing their dominant position (the fines can reach up to 10†% of the turnover achieved in Switzerland during the last three financial years) or the power to reduce or to omit fines when cooperation with hardcore cartel members allows the cartel to be discovered or suppressed, and the removal of the specific notification thresholds in the media sector.

The original draft was amended by Parliament to incorporate important additional elements. First, vertical agreements will be presumed to eliminate workable competition when they determine minimum or fixed prices of resale, or when they lead to geographical market sharing. These presumptions are important from a procedural point of view in that they enable the authorities to issue decisions without conducting an in-depth analysis of the market. They mark an important step forward in the departitioning of the Swiss market. Secondly, the Competition Act will not apply to effects on competition that result exclusively from laws governing intellectual property, with the exception of...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT