The Swedish Parliament has issued a law that will substantially widen and strengthen the administrative tools available to the Competition Authority. The new rules will enter into force on 1 August 2026 and 1 January 2027.
The reform includes new:
(i) substantive provisions to eliminate obstacles to competition,
(ii) possibilities for the Competition Authority to order undertakings to notify future acquisitions below the thresholds
(iii) sanctions for undertakings that provide false data or omit to timely respond to requests for information,
(iv) rules targeting public sector companies that specifically focus on protecting private companies from the unequal conditions that may arise when public and private operate in the same market.
The current Swedish Competition Act upholds prohibitions equivalent to TFEU Art. 101 and 102 as well as rules on control of concentrations. The new rules introduce a possibility for the Competition Authority that now may opt for forward-looking decisions. Hence, the new legislation package allows the Competition Authority to investigate and act against companies in order to remove barriers to effective competition in one or more markets.
The amended merger rules give the Competition Authority a possibility to require an undertaking, for a period not exceeding two years, to report future concentrations to which the undertaking is a party. Such a notification should include details of the other parties involved in the concentration, a description of the concentration, the date of the act forming the basis of the concentration, and the date on which the concentration is intended to be implemented. The new rules apply for concentrations below the thresholds.
Also, there will be sanctions for undertakings that do (i) not provide correct information during an investigation, or (ii) provide information with a delay. The Competition Authority may fine (administrative fine) a company, if it, or anyone acting on its behalf, in the course of an investigation into pro-competitive measures or the assessment of a prohibition on a notified merger, has provided incorrect, incomplete or misleading information in response to a request for information, or has failed to provide the requested information, documents or other materials within the specified time limit.
A new act on public sales activities has also been introduced. The rules in the new act seek to protect private companies from the unequal conditions that arise when public and private undertakings operate in the same market. In addition, publicly owned enterprises will be subject to increased transparency with a new requirement on the contents of their annual reports. These reports should separately state sales activities with (i) a description of the organization and financing of the sales activities; (ii) statement of income and expenses of the sales activities separately from the income and expenses of other activities; and (iii) a specification of the principles and methods applied for the calculation and allocation of income and expenses for different activities.
New legislation will enter into force on 1 August 2026 and 1 January 2027 (transparency requirements).
