NORWAY Trends and Developments Contributed by: Beret Sundet, Elin Moen, Olav Kolstad and Harald K. Selte, BAHR
Call-in power and screening below the thresholds The NCA has long had the power to call in transac - tions below the thresholds for review. This power has been exercised from time to time, most recently in 2024 in respect of a transaction that was ultimately cleared subject to remedies. Note, however, that the NCA has in some cases induced the parties to notify voluntarily rather than issuing a formal call-in decision. The NCA has previously also intervened in several oth - er called-in cases, demonstrating that low turnover is not a hindrance to a full investigation. In order to discover potentially harmful concentrations before the three-month deadline for calling in a trans - action below the turnover thresholds, the NCA has ordered several players in selected markets to report all transactions below the turnover thresholds within three working days of entering into a binding agree - ment. Such orders currently cover 35 players in 13 markets, including the markets for groceries, power supply, EV charging, news, ready-mix concrete and home security. In recent years, the NCA has expanded such orders to also include minority acquisitions, as it also has the power to review such transactions. Suggested amendments to the merger control system In December 2025, the committee appointed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries to review the Competition Act delivered its recommendations. While the committee unanimously recommended a con - tinuation of the SIEC standard, it suggested several changes to the merger control system “to reduce the risk of underenforcement”. The suggestions include: • expanded content requirements for merger notifi - cations; • the possibility to reset the review timeline in situ - ations where there are significant changes to the transaction or the affected markets, corresponding to Article 5 (3) of the EUMR; • an extended possibility for call-ins through the introduction of a knowledge criterion for control acquisitions and an extension of the call-in dead - line to six months for minority acquisitions. The lat - ter deadline can be shortened to 15 working days if the parties inform the NCA;
working days, well below the statutory deadline of 25 working days. Clock-stops more frequently used Requests for internal documents have over the past few years become standard procedure when the NCA handles potentially harmful mergers. Such requests have gradually widened in scope, leading to large vol - umes of documents, including internal emails. This development has in many cases necessitated the use of expertise in digital forensics to collect and identify relevant documents. The NCA may suspend the review period when requests for information are not responded to within the set deadline. Such clock-stops have previously been extremely rare, as the NCA has taken a pragmat - ic approach when the parties request additional time to respond. Over the past year, however, the NCA has used this possibility on two occasions. Both instances were related to Phase II cases where the NCA had issued broad requests for internal documents from the merging parties. These developments illustrate two trends: (i) that the NCA has over time been requesting increasingly larger volumes of internal documents from the par - ties in complex merger cases; and (ii) that the NCA is increasingly willing to stop the clock when such requests are not responded to promptly. Pre-notification only essential in complex cases Unlike many other jurisdictions, pre-notification is not essential in most merger cases in Norway. There is no system for an adequacy review of draft notifica - tions, and the formal requirements for notifications are limited. Notifications are therefore normally accepted without pre-notification. In 2025, formal pre-notifi - cation was registered in only 11 of the 189 notified cases, while eight notifications were declared incom - plete upon first submission (none of which had under - gone pre-notification). Situations involving incomplete notifications are usually quickly resolved; in 2025, the average resolution time was 5.4 working days. Pre-notification is accordingly only essential in more complex cases, where a well-prepared and structured review process is considered necessary.
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