Certification Authorities

The first concerned electronic signatures. In its decision, the Norwegian Competition Authority decided not to intervene in a merger between Telenor ZebSign AS (a Telenor company) and ErgoSign AS, even though these companies are the only two Norwegian companies currently offering secure electronic identification and digital signatures. The merger is designed to create a foundation for safer commerce and communication over the Internet. All Norwegian banks are believed to use the bankID solution, which includes certification services in direct competition with Zebsign. Since most of the population already has a bank account, it was presumed that bankID would provide viable competition to Zebsign. In addition, foreign suppliers of electronic signatures and certification services implied a potential competitive threat.

Electronic Banking

The second concerned electronic invoices. The Competition Authority decided to prohibit exclusive cooperation agreements regarding the procurement of electronic invoices (eFaktura) between BBS, one of the leading providers of payment services to Norwegian banks, and four of the banks owning BBS: Den norske Bank: Gjensidige NOR Sparebank: Christiania Bank (Kreditkassen): and Fokus Bank. The intervention was made with reference to Sections 3 to 10 of the Norwegian Competition Act, which gives the Competition Authority power to intervene against anti-competitive terms of business, agreements and actions.

efaktura is a solution whereby the issuers of invoices can present their claims to the customer's internet bank. The customer can then pay by confirming the information on the invoice. EDB Teamco/EDB Fellesdata, BBS's largest competitor in the field of electronic invoices, filed a complaint with the Norwegian Competition Authority concerning the exclusive agreements, which made it impossible for the issuers of electronic invoices and banks who used EDB's system to access the BBS 'eFaktura hotel', which is necessary to obtain access to all banks and customers.

The Competition Authority defined the relevant product market as being the production and electronic procurement of invoices to be presented in all Internet banks. The geographic market was defined as Norway. The reason for the decision was that such exclusive agreements made the use of companies other than BBS to procure electronic invoices and present these through all Internet banks impossible. Further, BBS was considered to have a monopoly in this market, thus restricting competition in the market. Consequently, the authority concluded that the agreements must be terminated.