Market Court imposed a €1.5 million penalty payment on Attendo for obstructing a company inspection

In its ruling on March 31, 2025, the Market Court determined that the care company Attendo Suomi Oy committed a procedural violation prohibited by competition law when an employee of the company deleted messages from their work phone during an inspection by the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA). This is the first time a penalty for a procedural violation has been imposed in Finland.

In May 2024, FCCA requested the Market Court to impose a penalty of approximately €4.4 million on Attendo for obstructing the inspection. The procedural violation was related to FCCA’s unannounced inspections conducted in January 2023 at care sector companies and the sector’s trade association under competition law. During the inspection, an Attendo employee deleted work-related WhatsApp conversations and the call log from their phone.

FCCA has been able to propose penalties for procedural violations since 2021. The penalty can be up to 1% of the company’s turnover.

In its ruling, the Market Court concluded that Attendo had obstructed the inspection conducted by the FCCA. According to the Market Court, obstructing an inspection should be considered a serious violation from the outset.

The FCCA took into account the cooperation Attendo provided in restoring the deleted information when determining the amount of the penalty. However, the Market Court assessed that Attendo’s cooperation and other actions should be given significantly more weight in the overall evaluation of the penalty amount.

The Market Court’s decision is not yet final. FCCA will carefully review the decision and then decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court.