Martijn van de Hel has been interviewed by Global Competition Review about the plans of the Netherlands Authority for Consumer and Markets (ACM) to launch five new sector investigations, specifically into veterinarians, education tools (including digital ones), the budget segment of the fixed broadband market, hydrogen and computer-driven prices. According to Martijn Snoep, Chairman of the Board of ACM, the ACM aims to complete these investigations before the end of the year. Competition experts have questioned the resources the ACM needs to conduct these investigations simultaneously.
In GCR, Martijn says the following: “Snoep has previously flagged resourcing problems, even recently warning that the ACM is 'continuously struggling for budget. In practice, we see that the ACM often rejects complaints stating insufficient resources and its prioritization policy. To my opinion these are hard to reconcile.”
In addition, Martijn was interviewed about the ACM's decision to halt an antitrust investigation into the involvement of trade associations in the chiropractic sector in their members' discount policies. The trade associations made commitments to the ACM to amend their regulations. The decision raised questions about unequal enforcement and transparency around prioritization policies. According to some legal experts, the decision sets an important precedent. In an interview with GCR, Martijn disputes this:
“This is the first time the ACM has accepted formal commitments from a trade organization in exchange for closing a probe, but in the past, the agency has frequently accepted informal promises from such groups, particularly in the healthcare industry.”
Martijn argues that the enforcer seems less interested in accepting commitments from individual companies. “That is unfortunate, because a quick fix is often better for the market, the companies involved and the internal resources of the ACM,” Martijn said.
You can read the full articles here and here.
Follow Maverick Advocaten on LinkedIn
