Annual Report 2004 Nma and Dte
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Annual Report 2004 NMa and DTe Annual Report 2004 Key Figures NMa and DTe for 2004 2004 2003 2002 Reports and ines * Number of investigations in competition cases 22 53 27 * Number of reports based on a reasonable suspicion that 41 16 9 the Competition Act had been contravened * Number of cases concluded by means of alternative enforcement instruments 3 15 na * Number of cases in which investigations were discontinued 15 22 na due to a lack of evidence * Number of cases in which ines and/or injunctions were imposed 12 14 6 * Total ines in 1 million 78.7 135.5 99.6 Exemptions, complaints and informal opinions * Processed applications for exemptions from the prohibition of cartels 16 40 46 * Processed complaints about contraventions of the Competition Act 199 219 187 * Informal opinions 80 143 202 Concentrations * Notiications of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures (concentrations) 83 69 77 * Withdrawn notiications 4 5 8 * Exemptions from waiting period 3 1 1 * Decisions in reponse to notiications of concentrations 71 71 66 * Licence required for concentrations 1 2 1 * Decisions on licence applications 0 1 0 Ofice of Transport Regulation * Processed cases regarding municipal transport companies 8 6 8 * Cases inalised by means of a legal ruling 14 5 3 DTe * Method decisions 14 18 17 NMa * Implementation decisions 212 346 329 * Enforcement decisions 46 43 29 Street address * Advice presented to the Minister of Economic Affairs 20 65 20 Muzentoren Wijnhaven 24 Administrative appeals 2511 GA The Hague * Finalised administrative appeals in competition cases 662 47 62 * Finalised administrative appeals in DTe cases 98 98 125 Postal address P.O. Box 16326 Judicial appeals 2500 BH The Hague * Finalised appeals in competition cases (Court of Rotterdam) 14 18 20 T +31 (0)70 330 3330 * Finalised appeals in competition cases (Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal) 12 5 3 F +31 (0)70 330 3370 * Finalised appeals in DTe-cases (Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal) 26 38 76 www.nmanet.nl/en/ Budget and personnel www.dte.nl/engels/home/ * Total budget in 1 million 35 36 32 * Number of employees as at 31 December 345 342 303 NMa/DTe Information Line T 0800–023 1885 (free) 1 In 2004 NMa issued four reports, three of which were in the construction industry. Two of these cases were very extensive; one case involved 379 companies. 2 Including ive cases at the Administrative Appeals Commission in Competition Cases (BAC). Netherlands Competition Authority Annual Report 2004 NMa and DTe Annual Report 2004 Key Figures NMa and DTe for 2004 2004 2003 2002 Reports and ines * Number of investigations in competition cases 22 53 27 * Number of reports based on a reasonable suspicion that 41 16 9 the Competition Act had been contravened * Number of cases concluded by means of alternative enforcement instruments 3 15 na * Number of cases in which investigations were discontinued 15 22 na due to a lack of evidence * Number of cases in which ines and/or injunctions were imposed 12 14 6 * Total ines in 1 million 78.7 135.5 99.6 Exemptions, complaints and informal opinions * Processed applications for exemptions from the prohibition of cartels 16 40 46 * Processed complaints about contraventions of the Competition Act 199 219 187 * Informal opinions 80 143 202 Concentrations * Notiications of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures (concentrations) 83 69 77 * Withdrawn notiications 4 5 8 * Exemptions from waiting period 3 1 1 * Decisions in reponse to notiications of concentrations 71 71 66 * Licence required for concentrations 1 2 1 * Decisions on licence applications 0 1 0 Ofice of Transport Regulation * Processed cases regarding municipal transport companies 8 6 8 * Cases inalised by means of a legal ruling 14 5 3 DTe * Method decisions 14 18 17 NMa * Implementation decisions 212 346 329 * Enforcement decisions 46 43 29 Street address * Advice presented to the Minister of Economic Affairs 20 65 20 Muzentoren Wijnhaven 24 Administrative appeals 2511 GA The Hague * Finalised administrative appeals in competition cases 662 47 62 * Finalised administrative appeals in DTe cases 98 98 125 Postal address P.O. Box 16326 Judicial appeals 2500 BH The Hague * Finalised appeals in competition cases (Court of Rotterdam) 14 18 20 T +31 (0)70 330 3330 * Finalised appeals in competition cases (Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal) 12 5 3 F +31 (0)70 330 3370 * Finalised appeals in DTe-cases (Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal) 26 38 76 www.nmanet.nl/en/ Budget and personnel www.dte.nl/engels/home/ * Total budget in 1 million 35 36 32 * Number of employees as at 31 December 345 342 303 NMa/DTe Information Line T 0800–023 1885 (free) 1 In 2004 NMa issued four reports, three of which were in the construction industry. Two of these cases were very extensive; one case involved 379 companies. 2 Including ive cases at the Administrative Appeals Commission in Competition Cases (BAC). Netherlands Competition Authority Annual Report 2004 NMa and DTe Contents Vision and Mission 4 Foreword 5 Reader’s Guide 7 Double interview | Tenders 8 Part 1: General Report 1 NMa in 2004 12 1.1 The year at a glance 12 1.2 NMa in dialogue 14 1.3 NMa’s parameters 19 1.4 NMa in the international context 22 1.5 NMa’s operations 26 Double interview | Liberal professions 38 2 Report per task 42 2.1 Supervision of the prohibition on cartels and the prohibition 42 on the abuse of a dominant position 2.2 Merger Control 47 2.3 Implementation of energy legislation: DTe 51 2.4 Supervision of the transport acts: Oªce of Transport Regulation 54 Part 2: Areas of Attention 3 Tenders 62 3.1 Applications for leniency in the construction industry 62 3.2 Investigations in the construction industry in 2004 62 3.3 Basis for ines imposed in the civil engineering and infrastructure sector 64 3.4 Other construction subsectors 66 3.5 Result 66 Double interview | Financial sector 68 4 Financial sector 72 4.1 Financial Sector Monitor 72 4.2 Compliance in the insurance sector 73 4.3 Sanctions imposed on Interpay 73 4.4 Other results 74 2 Annual Report 2004 NMa and DTe Annual Report 2004 NMa and DTe 3 Double interview | Energy sector 76 5 Energy sector 80 5.1 Results/activities 80 Double interview | Healthcare sector 86 6 Healthcare sector 90 6.1 Introduction 90 6.2 Subsectors 91 Double interview | Procurement power 96 Part 3: Reference 7 Quality reports of electricity grid and gas network managers 100 7.1 Quality reports of electricity grid managers 100 7.2 Quality reports of gas network managers 102 8 Monitoring of the electricity and gas network managers 104 8.1 Introduction 104 8.2 Supply market 104 8.3 Electricity wholesale market 105 8.4 Gas wholesale market 106 8.5 Conclusions 106 2 Annual Report 2004 NMa and DTe Annual Report 2004 NMa and DTe 3 Vision and Mission Making markets work The statutory tasks of NMa and its Oªces which regulate speciic sectors include the enforcement of the Competition Act [Mededingingswet], the Electricity Act 1998 [Electriciteitswet 1998], the Gas Act [Gaswet], the Passenger Transport Act [Wet personenvervoer 2000] and the Railways Act [Spoorwegwet]. Central to the execution of these tasks is NMa’s mission to ‘make markets work’: the monitoring of competition and supervision of the preconditions for the functioning of these markets. A competitive environment promotes innovation and stimulates the competitive strength of the private sector. In addition, compe- tition contributes to optimising the price/quality ratio of goods and services, and the eªcient use of (production) resources, which in turn beneits consumers. Healthy competition A market which functions well requires healthy competition. Practices or dominant positions of compa- nies may be the reason that market forces do not operate optimally. For this reason, NMa supervises competition. Companies are prohibited from restricting competition with their competitors by entering into agreements (prohibition on cartels). In addition, companies with a dominant position are prohibited from abusing this power, for instance by imposing unfair conditions on buyers or by excluding compe- titors. Dominant positions may also arise from mergers and acquisitions. NMa supervises the merging of companies to ensure that mergers do not arise which may obstruct the healthy operation of market forces. Sector-speciic supervision In addition to supervising compliance with the Competition Act, NMa has certain sector-speciic tasks and powers, namely in relation to the energy and transport sectors. These sectoral tasks are carried out by NMa’s ‘Oªces’: the Oªce of Energy Regulation (DTe) and the Oªce of Transport Regulation. The system of oªces guarantees the consistent application of the instruments provided by the Competition Act and the instruments for sector-speciic regulation. In this way the advantages of healthy competition can be optimised within the regulated sectors. 4 Annual Report 2004 NMa and DTe Annual Report 2004 NMa and DTe 5 Foreword NMa and DTe realise their mission to ‘make markets work’ on the basis of their statutory duties and powers. Their decisions and advice a¤ect the majority of markets which together constitute the Dutch economy. As a result, the per- formance of NMa’s and DTe’s duties is relevant to society as a whole. Social relevance is therefore the golden thread running through this annual report. In this annual report, NMa and DTe report on their activities by consistently analysing the resources deployed and the results achieved from a legal, economic and social perspective. Legal perspective NMa’s and DTe’s work has an unmistakable legal dimension. Dutch and European regulations demarcate the playing ield on which the regulator, com- panies and consumers-of necessity-meet.