Finland’s competition watchdog demands more resources to combat cartels

Finland’s Competition and Consumer Authority (KKV) needs significantly more funding and powers to investigate and prosecute cartels, the agency’s director-general Kirsi Leivo said Wednesday in an interview with national broadcaster Yle.

Leivo warned that budget cuts have left the authority under-resourced, slowing its ability to gather evidence—much of which now comes from mobile devices—and take swift action. “When the operating environment changes, it’s crucial to improve our ability to act and find evidence,” she stated.

The call follows KKV’s announcement earlier Wednesday that it had uncovered a purchasing and information-sharing cartel in the berry industry, proposing fines totaling over €9 million for the companies involved. The investigation, launched in late 2022, reviewed roughly 20,000 documents, including 8,800 text and WhatsApp messages.

Leivo also advocated for KKV to gain direct authority to impose fines, rather than submitting proposals to the Market Court—a change she argued would hold companies accountable faster.

Petri Kuoppamäki, a professor of business law, echoed the need for stronger deterrence, emphasizing prevention over punishment. “The core question is how to proactively stop cartels. The risk of getting caught must be higher,” he told Yle. Both Leivo and Kuoppamäki opposed criminal penalties for executives, citing Finland’s past experience where low fines rendered criminalization ineffective.