The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (Dutch: ()) is the

competition regulator A competition regulator is the institution that oversees the functioning of markets. It identifies and corrects practices causing market impediments and distortions through competition law (also known as antitrust law). In general it is a governm ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It is a regulatory authority based in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. It is charged with competition oversight, sector-specific regulation of several sectors, and enforcement of

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

laws. It enforces Section 24 of the Dutch Competition Act.

Organisation

The Authority falls under the responsibility of the

Ministry of Economic Affairs A Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Economic Affairs, or Department of Commerce is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the economy or economic policy. List Examples of such mi ...

and employs around 600 persons, divided over multiple Directions e.g. Direction of Consumers, Competition, Healthcare, Transportation etc.

History

ACM was founded on 1 April 2013 through the merger of the Consumer Authority (Consumentenautoriteit, CA), the Independent Postal and Telecommunications Authority (Onafhankelijke Post en Telecommunicatie Autoriteit, OPTA), and the

Netherlands Competition Authority The Netherlands Competition Authority (Dutch: Nederlandse Mededingingsautoriteit, NMa) was the competition regulator for the Netherlands. After a merger with the Consumentenautoriteit and Onafhankelijke Post en Telecommunicatie Autoriteit on 1 A ...

(Nederlandse Mededingingsautoriteit, NMa).

Notable cases

In 2017 ACM imposed a fine of 41 million euros on

Nederlandse Spoorwegen (, , NS ) is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The rail infrastructure is maintained by network manager ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003. Freight operato ...

for abuse of its position by means of predatory pricing and related practices. In 2018 it revoked the energy licence of One Select, a sister company of the UK energy supplier, because it could no longer “comply with the requirements of its energy licence”. It approved the takeover by HeadFirst Source Group NV of Myler, a Dutch contract management and global sourcing company. It forced

VodafoneZiggo VodafoneZiggo Group B.V. is a Dutch joint venture between Vodafone Group Plc and Liberty Global Plc, announced in February 2016, approved by the European Commission in August 2016 and completed in December 2016. VodafoneZiggo is headquartered ...

and

KPN Koninklijke KPN N.V. (Royal KPN N.V. in English), trading as KPN is a Dutch List of telephone operating companies, telecommunications company. KPN originated from a government-run postal, telegraph and telephone service and is based in Rotterda ...

to open up their fixed networks to third party providers after a

market analysis A market analysis studies the attractiveness and the dynamics of a special market within a special industry. It is part of the industry analysis and thus in turn of the global environmental analysis. Through all of these analyses the strengths, ...

of Wholesale Fixed Access showed that between them they dominated the market. It set new prices for water and electricity on

Bonaire Bonaire is a Caribbean island in the Leeward Antilles, and is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially Public body (Netherlands), "public body") of the Netherlands. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (Windward an ...

from 1 April 2018. In 2020, ACM fined tobacco makers

British American Tobacco British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products including electronic cigarettes. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, E ...

, Philip Morris,

Japan Tobacco International JTI - Japan Tobacco International is the international tobacco division of Japan Tobacco (Global Fortune 500), one of the three largest international Big Tobacco product manufacturers. The holding company is JT International SA and headquartere ...

and Van Nelle a total of 82 million euros ($95.7 million) for illegally exchanging information about future pricing plans in the 2008-2011 period. In 2022, ACM levied ten weekly fines totaling 50 million euros ($55 million) against

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

for failure to comply with an order to make it possible for dating app providers in the Netherlands to use non-Apple payment methods.Toby Sterling (28 March 2022)
Dutch regulator levies 10th fine on Apple in dating app row, assessing new proposal
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

''.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Organisations based in The Hague Competition regulators Regulation in the Netherlands Government agencies established in 2013 2013 establishments in the Netherlands