Netherlands

[NL] Establishment of the Authority Consumer and Market

IRIS 2013-6:1/26

Rosanne Deen

Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam

On 1 April 2013, the Onafhankelijke Post en Telecommunicatie Autoriteit (Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority - OPTA) officially merged with the Nederlandse Mededingingsautoriteit (Dutch Competition Authority - NMa) and the Consumentenautoriteit (the Consumer Authority - CA), to create a new organisation called Autoriteit Consument en Markt (the Authority Consumer and Market - ACM). Prior to the merger, the three organizations that each had responsibility for the supervision of different parts of the market: the NMa oversaw cartel formations and price agreements, the OPTA supervised the telecommunications and postal sector, and the CA monitored breaches of consumer law. The aim of the merger of these three organizations is to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of market monitoring by making it possible to respond flexibly to market developments, such as globalization. As well as this, the benefits of the merger are expected to result in better use of already available knowledge, expertise and information, which will benefit the quality of supervision.

The ACM will focus on three main issues: consumer protection; sector-specific market supervision; and monitoring of competition. The organization has an extensive and diverse range of tasks, which involve responding to various changes in the environment resulting from economic and technological developments, as well as that new European and national rules and regulations. On April 2, the ACM launched its new website which sets out the priorities of the ACM for (the remainder of) 2013, namely:

- The stagnation in the Dutch housing market;

- The affordability of care: the high input costs of medicines and devices;

- Sustainability and competition;

- Prevention of unfair competition by governments;

- Broadband Internet for everyone;

- Strengthening competition in the mobile telecommunications;

- More transparency for consumers;

- Protection against aggressive marketing (by telephone);

- A secure Internet;

- One invoice for energy;

- Improving the functioning and integration of the energy market;

- An affordable and reliable supply of energy.

These priorities are partly based on ongoing programmes that have already been initiated by OPTA, the NMa and the CAand partly on activities that the ACM will initiate this year. From 2014 onwards, the ACM will publish an ACM Agenda every two years in which the organization will set out its priorities for the two-year period. The ACM Agenda for the years 2014 and 2015 will be published in autumn 2013.