On 26 October 2012, the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority ("DCCA") put forward a proposal for revising the Danish Competition Act and the Danish Penal Code. The changes are primarily aimed at introducing the possibility of imprisonment for infringements of Article 101 TFEU and the corresponding Section 6 of the Danish Competition Act, and significantly increasing the fines imposed on undertakings and individuals for breaches of the Danish Competition Act.
According to the proposal, Danish courts should be authorized under the Competition Act to sentence individuals to prison for a period of up to 18 months for infringements of Article 101 TFEU and Section 6 of the Competition Act. Moreover, the proposal suggests that the Danish courts should also be authorized under the Danish Penal Code to sentence natural persons to prison for a period of up to 6 years if the person is involved in a cartel arrangement under particularly aggravating circumstances. The purpose of the latter proposal is to align the penalties applicable to cartels with penalties for financial crimes as, according to the DCCA, the adverse effects of cartels are comparable to those of financial crimes.
Furthermore, the draft bill proposes to increase the fines imposed on undertakings for all infringements under the Competition Act by increasing: (i) the basic amount for less aggravating infringements to DKK 4 million (around € 536,400) from today's DKK 400,000 (around € 53,600); (ii) the basic amount for aggravating infringements to between DKK 4 million and DKK 20 million (around € 2.7 million) from today's DKK 400,000 to DKK 15 million (around € 2 million); and (iii) the fines for exceptionally aggravating infringements to at least DKK 20 million from today's DKK 15 million. The final amount of the fine imposed on an undertaking may however not exceed 10% of the undertaking's turnover
Moreover, the basic amount of fines imposed on individuals for infringements under the Competition Act should, according to the draft proposal, similarly be increased to at least DKK 50,000 (around € 6,700), DKK 100,000 (around € 13,400) and DKK 200,000 (around € 26,800), depending on the gravity of the infringement.
Other proposed amendments include the introduction of the possibility for the DCCA to suspend the time limits for merger reviews in case of a complaint brought before the Danish Competition Appeals Tribunal against the proposed merger, and the possibility for the DCCA to issue a so-called "clarifying order" to an undertaking subject to an infringement decision in order to specify how the undertaking should act to comply with the order to bring the infringement to an end.
The draft proposal will now be reviewed by the Danish government and is expected to enter into force on 1 March 2013.
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