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"Annual Report 2005"

The Danish Competition Authority is an independent authority responsible for matters related to competition, energy regulation, public procurement and state aid. The Authority is the secretariat of the Danish Competition Council and the Danish Energy Regulatory Authority. The Danish Competition Authority performs a number of tasks in cooperation with the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission.

1.1 Strategy

The Danish Competition Authority strongly supports the notion that competition encourages prosperity and innovation.

The Authority strives to create an effective market through competition in both the public and private sectors. The mission of the Competition Authority is to contribute to an effective market economy where competition ensures a wide range of goods and services at reasonable prices together with competition for public procurements.

The Authority aims at being one of the most effective, competent and serviceminded competition authorities among the OECD countries.

The Authority has set two specific goals to intensify competition in Denmark:

• The number of industries in Denmark with competition problems must be halved.
• The average price level in Denmark must converge to the average price levels of the countries that Denmark is traditionally compared with.

As in many other countries and in the EU, the Danish Competition Act is based on the principle of prohibition. The Act is “full-fledged”, i.e. based on the principle of prohibition, and includes merger control. The Authority publishes an annual Competition Report (Konkurrenceredegørelse), which measures competition in Denmark, analyses the financial and legal situation and describes major decisions of the year.

1.2 Organization

The Authority comprises three competition units, a unit dealing with legal affairs and public procurement, a unit dealing with energy regulation, an administration secretariat and a management secretariat.

The Authority has developed a project and network organization that stimulates teamwork, cross-sectional cooperation and internal mobility. The results of this organization structure have increased productivity, development capacity and employee satisfaction.

The Authority currently employs 143 persons, of whom 70 work with competition cases, 33 work with energy regulation, 14 work with public procurement state aid and payment card regulation and 22 work with administrative tasks, information and ministerial affairs.

1.3 The Competition Council

The Danish Competition Council is composed of a chairman and 18 members. The Council represents versatile knowledge of public and private enterprise, including legal, economic, financial and consumer-related issues.

The Competition Council decides on major cases and test cases on the basis of submissions made by the Competition Authority. The Council meets once a month. The Authority is responsible for the day-to-day management on behalf of the Council. The decisions and case administration of the Council and the Authority are not influenced by the Ministry or the Minister, but are subject to appeal before the Competition Appeals Tribunal and subsequently to the ordinary courts.

Version 1.0 April 2006 • © Danish Competition Authority.
Published by the Danish Competition Authority, http://www.ks.dk/
Publication produced according to the standard for electronic publication set by the Government