These Best Practices intend to contribute to a high degree of predictability and increase the co-operation between the parties in order to achieve an efficient review process. The Best Practices are built on the experience of the Competition Authority in the conduct of merger control proceedings. The Competition Authority has taken into consideration the replies to the consultation in November 2008.

– We have low turnover thresholds for notification of concentrations in Norway, compared to most of the other countries, and therefore we receive every year a considerable amount of notifications. The majority of the received notifications can be reviewed and approved by the Competition Authority without extensive contact with the parties, if the concentration does not raise any competition concerns, says the legal director Thea Susanne Skaug.

Better communication
According to the Competition Authority’s experience, complicated cases may require more extensive communication between the Competition Authority and the parties. These Best Practices focus mainly on such cases. The main contents of the Best Practices are as follows:

• The purpose and extent of pre-notification contact between the Competition Authority and interested parties in relation to notifications which raise competition concerns.
• Fact-finding and public versions of the case documents
• The timing of meetings with the Competition Authority during the review period in  cases concerning a complete notification, as well as principles for the conduct these meetings
• The right to access case documents notified with a complete notification and public access
• The timing of meetings with the Competition Authority in relation to remedy proposals, and types of remedy commitments.