The Finnish Market Court issued a decision (MAO:177/2025*) on March 31, 2025, in which a company subject to a competition authority inspection was fined €1,500,000 for obstructing the inspection.

The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (“FCCA”) conducted an inspection at the company’s premises to investigate whether the company and its group companies had engaged in prohibited collusion between competitors in violation of competition law. During the inspection, the inspectors have the right to access the company’s premises and examine its business correspondence, as well as other documents and data, regardless of their type, that may be relevant to the inspection.

To ensure the fluent inspection, the Finnish Competition Act provides for the imposition of a penalty fee in cases where a company intentionally or negligently obstructs an inspection. The penalty fee may be up to one percent of the global turnover of the company (based on the financial year preceding the proposal) responsible for the obstruction.

In the above-mentioned case, an individual working as a manager in a group company deleted certain message conversations and call logs from his mobile phone. The Market Court held the parent company of the group responsible for the manager’s actions, even though the company could not have prevented them. The company was unaware of the manager’s actions in advance, and the manager was explicitly prohibited from deleting any material when he was informed of the inspection. The manager acted against the company’s instructions. Therefore, the company has a strict responsibility for ensuring the fluent conduct of the inspection.

The company’s behavior before and during the inspection was taken into account when determining the amount of the penalty fee. The FCCA requested a penalty fee of approximately EUR 4.37 million, while the Market Court imposed a penalty fee of EUR 1.5 million. The Market Court emphasized in its rationale that the company had regularly instructed and trained its staff on competition law and procedures for such inspections. In addition, the manager had been specifically informed of the prohibition on destroying any materials. Furthermore, the company proactively investigated the incident and provided the FCCA with a backup copy of the deleted materials. The company's actions appeared to have had a significant impact on the amount of the penalty.

How to Prepare?

Every company is responsible for ensuring compliance with competition law. For example, it is against competition law to agree with competitors on product prices or market territories or to impose terms on suppliers that significantly restrict competition (e.g., certain exclusivity or non-compete clauses). Any company may be subject to a competition authority’s inspection, and even smaller companies are regularly inspected.

1. Provide instructions and training for your personnel and other representatives. Ensure that the basic rules of competition law are known within your company and identify potential competition law risks related to, for example, networking with competitors or certain contractual terms that are common in distribution agreements.

2. It is recommended to train the company’s management, personnel, and other representatives on how to act in the event of a competition authority inspection. An inspection is a unique and often stressful situation for most people, and prior training ensures the fluent conduct of the inspection.

3. If your company is subject to an inspection, contact a lawyer immediately. Ensure that the personnel are aware of prohibited practices during the inspection, such as the prohibition on destroying any company materials.

Merkurius Attorneys' competition law experts regularly advise our clients on various competition law issues, provide training on competition law and competition authorities’ inspections, and represent our clients in competition-law-related proceedings.