Antitrust, Competition & Trade

The CMS Antitrust, Competition and Trade (ACT) group in Norway is part of the fully integrated CMS global team, one of the largest specialist competition and trade teams in the world. More than 225 CMS experts advise clients in more than 40 countries worldwide on all ACT matters. 

Our Norwegian team is nationally recognized as one of the best in this field and draws on extensive experience from private practice and public service to steer our clients through an increasingly complex field.  The Norwegian team has extensive experience from advising on matters before the Norwegian Competition Authority, the EFTA Surveillance Authority, the EU Commission and the EU and EFTA courts, as well as internal training and compliance programs.

Due to our size and very wide footprint, we are able to deal with all ACT matters irrespective of their geographic dimension. Where necessary we cooperate with long established contacts from our wider network of law firms everywhere in the world.

We are specialists across the full range of Antitrust, Competition and Trade matters. Our team advises clients subject to investigations as well as carrying out routine advisory work on new business models, cooperation and contemplated strategies. We steer transactions through the merger notification procedure in Norway and further abroad, as well advising on complaints and deploying litigation strategies. 

We have expert sub-groups specialising in specific areas within the wider competition and trade field, e.g. for FDI/Foreign investment screening. In particular, we have a comprehensive understanding of the state aid regulations and are routinely instructed to assess whether measures qualify as state aid, whether any exemption provisions are applicable, and which changes, if any, need to be made to measures to bring these into compliance with the regulations. Furthermore, our team will also advise and assist in notification procedures before the EFTA Surveillance Authority. We also have extensive experience in general EU/EEA law matters, including in relation to the four freedoms. Additionally, we assist companies within the technology and defence sector in managing export control regulations, including assessments and applications. We also assist clients complying with different national and EU sanctions regimes, including the very extensive sanctions adopted against Russia.

We are also well-known as experts in various sectors of the economy. Our renowned sector specialisation encompasses automotive, consumer products/FMCG, construction, digital economy, energy/oil & gas, life sciences, telecommunications/media and transport to name but a few. 

Our clients range from many very large multinationals who frequently use our team as their ACT law firm of choice for the entire region (e.g., in Europe and the Nordics), to governments at all levels and a high number of medium-sized companies. 

We use the most up-to-date technical and AI tools to support our business in Norway and abroad. 

We hold a renowned annual EU competition law conference which has become a feature in the Brussels calendar.  We put out regular case law updates on Norwegian, European and international competition and trade developments on our Law Now service.  Our monthly EU law webinars are attended by in house counsel from around the world and from renowned Norwegian companies and public sector institutions.  And our group is steered, not just by a management committee of partners but also by an active associates’ group that keeps us innovating to serve clients.

We cover every area of Antitrust, Competition and Trade law – internationally and in the Norwegian market