The European Commission#s decision regarding the SAS/Maersk agreement

The European Commission's decision regarding the SAS/Maersk agreement The European Commission's decision regarding the agreement between SAS and Maersk Air was published on Monday, September 10. The document, which is available at http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/antitrust/cases/2001/ contains a description of the sequence of events that resulted in the Commission's decision to fine SAS and Maersk Air for breach of current competition legislation in the EU. The Commission's position was known earlier and SAS, which has conceded having been at fault, does not intend to appeal against the fine totaling EUR 39.375 M. "The decision per se does not entail anything that was not already known. As we have already stated, our actions in the Maersk Air matter were entirely unacceptable and the judgment of the European Commission is both highly problematical for us and has tangible financial implications. In order to ensure that SAS does not commit similar breaches in the future, we initiated a series of measures and changes as early as in February," explains Henry Sténson, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications at SAS. The changes carried out in immediate connection with the revelation in February this year of the unlawful portions of the cooperation agreement between SAS and Maersk, which was entered into in 1998, included the following measures: · The appointment of an independent enquiry into SAS's handling of the conclusion and execution of the agreement · The initiation of an extensive training or "compliance" program regarding the regulations included in the competition legislation and the consequences of SAS actions. Since Jörgen Lindegaard took office as President of SAS on May 8, the following actions have been taken: · A changed organizational structure has been introduced, in which the influence of the legal staff function has been strengthened, whereby it reports directly to the President. · The Alliances & Partnerships division reports directly to the President. · The decision-making process in matters concerning cooperation agreements has been altered to ensure greater insight. · A systematic review has been initiated to ensure that existing agreements comply in all respects with current legislation. · The person responsible for SAS entering the unlawful agreements has left the company. · The person responsible for the implementation of the agreements has been transferred to other duties. The role and responsibilities of the SAS Board of Directors in the Maersk Air matter is being investigated by an independent commission at the Board's own request. The findings of this investigation will be presented in Stockholm on September 17. "SAS's involvement in the matter is of a serious nature and we have reacted strongly in order to avoid incorrect behavior in the future," says Henry Sténson. "We hope that this, and the completion of the investigation into the Board's actions in connection with the matter, will enable us to put this episode behind us and to return to our real task - which is to develop SAS and to continue our international expansion in an efficient manner and in healthy competition with the leading airlines of the world. SAS CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/08/01/20030801BIT00100/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/08/01/20030801BIT00100/wkr0002.pdf