Judgment on sign fee for taxis at Arlanda

The Swedish Competition Authority brought a claim against Swedavia in 2013, demanding that the company pay a SEK 340,000 administrative fine for its abuse of a dominant market position. The City Court proved the Swedish Competition Authority to be right on a number of issues but despite this, decided not to impose an administrative fine.

The City Court pronounced that the sign fee entailed an extra cost of SEK 25 for taxi customers and was an inconvenience for customers who instead went to the pre-booking counter. The fee also created additional work for taxi companies. The City Court nevertheless decided that the efficiency gains in reduced parking time that were generated by the sign fee have neutralised the harmful effects on competition.

“Despite the City Court having proven us right on a number of issues and agreed that the sign fee was harmful to competition, it has not imposed an administrative fine,” says the Swedish Competition Authority’s Director General Dan Sjöblom.

An important point of principle for the Swedish Competition Authority was whether or not an undertaking can be fined (ordered to pay an administrative fine) for an activity that a court has already prohibited it from pursuing. As the Swedish Competition Authority has pointed out, both the City Court and the Market Court have previously concluded that that the undertaking can be fined. The City Court has once again ruled that an undertaking which has been required by a court to bring an anti-competitive activity to an end can also be ordered to pay a fine for the infringement. The Swedish Competition Authority will now analyse the judgment before deciding whether to lodge an appeal.