Competition Department
Companies sometimes do things that frustrate fair competition. For example, they could form a cartel. That means that companies make mutual agreements.
Ending and preventing cartels
They could, for example, agree to raise prices together. Or they could promise each other that each of them will only do business in different geographical areas. That way, they would not compete with one another. Consumers would thus have less choice, or they would end up paying higher prices. The Competition Department tracks down such kinds of activities, and ends them. The Competition Department also tries to prevent companies from making such agreements in the first place.
Leniency Office
If a company is part of a cartel and no longer wants to take part in it, the company or an individual has the opportunity to confess their participation to the NMa. In most cases, that company or individual either escapes the fine completely, or is given a much lower fine than it would have had if it did not confess their participation. A special office at the NMa has been created to facilitate these confessions: the Leniency Office.
Concentration control
Companies can become very large by acquiring other companies or by merging. Such moves are called concentrations. The Competition Department looks into whether companies that have acquisition or merger plans do not become too big. That way, we prevent them from becoming too powerful on the market.
Ending and preventing abuses of dominance
Sometimes, there are too few companies of a certain kind. This gives them a dominant position on the market. Having a dominant position in itself is not illegal.What is illegal though, is abusing such a position.Examples include companies that make it impossible for customers to switch to competitors. Or when companies raise their prices substantially, or when they reduce them so much that other companies go bankrupt.That way, other companies are not given a fair chance.Furthermore, such big companies do not do their best, because they know that their customers have nowhere else to go. This puts consumers at a disadvantage, because they end up paying too much, or having less choice. That is why the Competition Department sees to it that dominant companies do not abuse their position on the market.
