Competition Commission

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The Competition Commission (Weko) ( French Commission de la concurrence , Italian Commissione della concorrenza ) and the associated secretariat form the competition authority in Switzerland . The authority is based in Bern . The Competition Commission was created in 1996 as the successor to the Cartel Commission . The Competition Commission is independent of decisions and instructions. Administratively, it is assigned to the Federal Department of Economics, Education and Research .

tasks

The Competition Commission is responsible for applying the federal law on cartels and other restraints of competition . The task is the review of competition agreements , the fight against the abuse of dominant positions and the control of company mergers. To this end, the Competition Commission can, under certain conditions, prohibit competition agreements, the behavior of controlling companies and corporate mergers or only permit corporate mergers under certain conditions or requirements. In certain cases it can impose sanctions (fines).

The Competition Commission gives its opinion on drafts of federal economic policy enactments and can submit recommendations to the Federal Council and other authorities to promote competition .

organization

A distinction must be made between the Competition Commission as the decision-making body and the Secretariat as the investigative authority. The separation is not strict. For example, the Commission President oversees the management of the Secretariat, the Secretariat requires the consent of a member of the Commission Bureau in order to open an investigation, and the Secretariat can discuss important issues with the Commission.

Commission

According to the Cartel Act, the Competition Commission consists of 11 to 15 members, half of whom must be independent experts. The price supervisor takes part in the meetings in an advisory capacity. The Competition Commission currently has 12 members. The Swiss Trade Association , Economiesuisse , the Swiss Confederation of Trade Unions and the Swiss Farmers' Association each have one representative.

As a rule, the association representatives do not have to stand down when a decision is made on a company belonging to the association concerned. In addition to these actual interest representatives, numerous members have directorships or other ties. Since the legislative revision in 2004, the commission members have had to disclose their interests in a register of interests.

Andreas Heinemann has been the President of the Competition Commission since January 1, 2018 . His predecessor in this office was Vincent Martenet.

office

The task of the secretariat is to prepare the commission's business, to carry out the antitrust investigations, to submit applications to the commission and to implement the commission’s decisions.

The secretariat is divided into the product markets, infrastructure, services, construction, and resources and logistics departments. The secretariat employs 72 people (60.9 full-time positions, as of 2017). Patrik Ducrey has been the director of the secretariat since August 1, 2018, his predecessor was Rafael Corazza.

criticism

The organization of the Competition Commission was repeatedly criticized. Among other things, are criticized

  • the stakeholders
  • the militia character of the commission
  • the excessive size of the commission
  • the inadequate separation between investigating and decision-making authorities.

The preliminary draft for the legislative revision from 2004 envisaged reducing the commission to 7 members who had to be independent experts. However, after the consultation process , this change was dropped.

As part of the evaluation of the Cartel Act in accordance with its Article 59a, the Antitrust Act Evaluation Group came to the conclusion in 2009 that a revision was necessary with regard to the organization and composition of the competition authority. In particular, it is necessary to make the authority more independent (no interest groups) and to professionalize it (downsizing the committee, increasing expert knowledge, setting incentives). In addition, it was recommended that the previous authority, consisting of the Commission and the Secretariat, be converted into a single-tier authority.

Parent Instances

Appeals against rulings by the Competition Commission can be lodged with the Federal Administrative Court and then with the Federal Supreme Court .

Agreements and behavior by dominant companies that have been declared inadmissible by the Competition Commission can exceptionally be permitted by the Federal Council out of predominant public interest. The same applies to prohibited business combinations.

Membership in international organizations

The Competition Commission is a member of the International Competition Network and the Marchfeld Competition Forum .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Annual report 2017 of the Competition Commission , p. 23 (PDF; 304 kB).
  2. ↑ Antitrust law: position assessment. Report for the attention of the Audit Committee of the National Council of October 11, 2000 In: Bundesblatt . 2001, p. 3360 ff. (PDF; 350 kB).
  3. ^ Message on the amendment of the Cartel Act of November 7, 2001. In: Bundesblatt. 2002, p. 2030 and p. 2047 (PDF; 205 kB).
  4. ↑ Report on the evaluation of the Cartel Act and suggestions for further action. Recommendations of the Antitrust Law Evaluation Group. Weko website, March 17, 2009 (PDF; 209 kB).