28 - The Enforcement of Competition Law in the Netherlands

Summary

In the past the Netherlands was known for its lenient approach towards anticompetitive behaviour. This slowly changed during the 1990s, and the Netherlands turned into a paradise for competition law litigation. The Dutch Competition Authority (ACM) has multiple tools to combat anticompetitive behaviour. The competition law rules should nowadays be clear for undertakings. Nevertheless, the ACM has over the years been a bit more lenient in sectors where competition law was recently introduced. Fines are an important means to enforce the competition law rules, but the ACM seems to invest much in informal enforcement tools. The ACM is strengthening informal enforcement by, for example, creating guidance papers on different important topics. Informal enforcement can be an efficient way to respond to anticompetitive practices. Compliance with procedural and fundamental rights of undertakings should be safeguarded though. Furthermore, at this point in time, informal enforcement is still conducted on an ad hoc basis and therefore seems not to be based on a clear vision.