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The 300-page notice from the Norwegian Competition Authority contains no evidence of information sharing between supermarket chains, according to Coop. He is one of three grocery gamblers who have been notified of billions in fines for illegal price collusion.
– ALSO STUPID NOW: Communications director Bjørn Takle Friis at Coop says the Norwegian Competition Authority’s fee notice has no evidence of information sharing.
Hanna Kristin Hjardar / E24
– There is nothing in this notice that refers to the exchange of information between the networks, says communications director Bjørn Takle Friis at Coop a E24.
Together with Rema and Norgesgruppen, Coop received notification from the Norwegian Competition Authority on Tuesday of a total of NOK 21 billion in penalties for violations of the Competition Law. It is historically high in the Norwegian context.
The audit believes the three food giants have been in illegal price collusion, but they all deny doing anything wrong.
The notice itself is kept hidden from the public. It is almost 300 pages long, according to the Norwegian Competition Authority.
– Our lawyers are ready
Coop himself was quick to call the Authority’s punitive response “completely absurd” when the news broke Tuesday.
– You have now had a few days to read the warning. Have you gained a better understanding of what the audit used as the basis for the billion fee?
– No, we don’t. We haven’t gotten wiser, replies Coop top.
– We do not see anything in this notice to support what the audit does in public. Our attorneys are fully aware of this. We are as shocked now as when the warning came, continues Friis.
So far, and while the concrete evidence against the chains remains out of the public eye, both politicians and grocery experts have expressed skepticism that the regulator’s harsh reaction will only come now, after many years of silence on the deal. price hunting that is critical to the case.
The audit: emails are about price
The deal is part of an industry rule that came in as early as 2010 and has given chains access to each other’s stores to check prices.
The scheme was never a secret to the Norwegian Competition Authority, the networks note. They say that everything has happened for an open stage.
But the audit says they found grums behind the scenes:
According to Competition Director Lars Sørgard, the chains had already established a “common understanding” since 2011 that price finders should be “used in a different way” than the 2010 scheme allowed.
Over time, the chains also gained “access to more prices and more information about competitors than the scheme initially anticipated,” Sørgard told E24.
According to the competition director, the audit seizures are very extensive and include emails that must show “what the chains have thought about prices.”
Illustration photo.
Stian Lysberg Solum
… but nothing between the chains, according to Coop
But in the warning, the audit does not present any email between the chains, according to Coop, which says the warning does not include other communication.
– The competition director has stated in various media that the industry standard itself is not illegal, and that these are specific findings they have made. We just don’t understand what findings should show something illegal, Friis says.
– What kinds of findings does the audit describe in the warning?
– I can’t go into details about that. But there is nothing there to indicate a crime.
– Has the audit probably described what they think is illegal?
– No, not specifically.
– Does the competition manager talk about emails dealing with price?
– Yes, but these are internal emails. Nothing has been sent between the chains.
Competition director Lars Sørgard did not respond to E24’s query on Friday.
“Common understanding”
When E24 asked the competition director on Tuesday if they had found evidence that the networks had conspired not to compete on price, the competition director responded:
– It is not the case that Rema calls Coop and says “now I put the price like this, what do you do?” However, we believe that the evidence documents a common understanding of price coordination in violation of competition law.
– Does the audit think perhaps that it has been a more tacit cooperation?
– I’m not going into that. But the only thing we’ve seen in the warning is inside information. Nothing happens between the chains, says Friis.
– The Norwegian Competition Authority says that the cooperation in search of prices developed in an illegal direction already in 2011. What does the warning say about what happened this year?
– I do not want to go into details in the document.
Neither will the Norway Group.
– The rate would affect us a lot
– I can’t go into that, Executive Vice President of Communications Stein Rømmerud answers E24’s question about what the warning contains – and no contains, according to your competitor.
Rema has declined to comment on the fee warning.
The fee notified to Coop is NOK 4.8 billion.
– Do you have money to pay?
– We believe that we can get the Authority to withdraw this case, because we believe that they do not have it. The rest becomes hypothetical.
– But do you have five billion left?
– It is not the case that there is a danger to our existence. Coop will survive. But we don’t have pockets as deep as our competitors. Such a fee would further affect our competitiveness. And it will be extremely unfortunate for the entire Norwegian grocery market.
