The Competition Appeals Tribunal upholds decision on camping cards

By assistant attorney Thorbjörg Asta Leifsdottir

Background and the Council’s decision

The Camping Board is an umbrella organisation of which almost 90% of all camping sites in Denmark are members. The Camping Board requires its members to accept only the so-called CKE (Camping Key Europe) cards. The CKE card is one among several cards that give access to European camping sites. The Competition Council found that the Camping Board had restricted competition from other cards such as ACSI Club ID by requiring its members only to accept the CKE card. The Council therefore ordered the Camping Board to abandon the requirement.

In addition to the above requirement, the Camping Board had also determined the price to be charged by the camping sites for the CKE card. The card was sold at a fixed price of DKK 110 at all member sites. The Competition Council found this price coordination contrary to section 6 of the Danish Competition Act. The Council therefore ordered the Camping Board to cease this practice in order to enhance competition between different CKE cards and also between different sellers of the cards.

At the same time, the Council ordered DK-CAMP, an association that represents 300 Danish camping sites, to stop participating in the illegal activities. DK-CAMP lodged an appeal with the Danish Competition Appeals Tribunal, and it is in these appeal proceedings that the Tribunal has now given a ruling.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal’s ruling

The Tribunal found that the agreement amounted to a horizontal agreement between the Camping Board and the camping sites; all parties sold the camping cards to end users and were therefore competitors. The agreement had as its object to restrict competition, and DK-CAMP’s activities therefore constituted both illegal price coordination and market foreclosure. The Tribunal affirmed the Council’s decision, finding that DK-CAMP had violated section 6(1) of the Danish Competition Act and article 101(1) TFEU.

Umbrella and trade organisations should be cautious

The decision shows that umbrella and trade organisations should be cautious not to coordinate their practices. The area has been the focus of the competition authorities’ attention over the last years, and both the organisations and their members – including, in principle, also the persons involved – risk being sanctioned.