ABUSE OF DOMINANT POSITION: AMO SR issued a commitments decision against the company Slovenská pošta, a.s.

On 14 May 2021 the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic, the Division of Abuse of Dominant Position and Vertical Agreements, (hereafter "the Office") initiated, based on its own initiative, the administrative proceedings in the matter of possible abuse of dominant position pursuant to the Article 8 Paragraph 2 Letter c) of the Act No. 136/2001 Coll. on Protection of Competition and on Amendments and Supplements to Act of the Slovak National Council No. 347/1990 Coll. on Organization of Ministries and Other Central Bodies of State Administration of the Slovak Republic as amended by the Act No. 350/2016 Coll., effective until 31 May 2021, and the Article 102 Letter c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in the field of delivering bulk letter consignments against the company Slovenská pošta, a.s. (“Slovak Post”).

 

The Office initiated the administrative proceedings following an investigation, during which it had obtained information and documentation giving rise to a reasonable suspicion that the undertaking operating in the field of delivering bulk letter consignments might have violated the Act. In delivering bulk letter consignments, the undertaking might have applied unjustified differences in discounts to individual customers, as a result of which undertakings might have been put at a disadvantage in competition in the field of producing bulk letter consignments.

 

In the course of administrative proceedings, the party to the proceedings proposed certain commitments pursuant to the Article 33 Paragraph 1 of the Act No. 187/2021 Coll. on Protection of Competition and on Amendment of Certain Acts, the adoption of which could eliminate competition concerns. The proposed commitments related to conditions and discounts for the customers of the participant to the proceedings using bulk letter consignments. The Office, after carrying out the testing of commitments in accordance with the Article 33 Paragraph 2 of the Act No. 187/2021 Coll. on Protection of Competition and on Amendment of Certain Acts, concluded that the proposed commitments respond to the Office´s preliminary assessment of case and by adopting them, it is possible to eliminate the competition concerns identified by the Office, namely effectively enough, in a short time and with lower administrative costs. For the reasons stated above, on 29 July 2022 the Office issued a decision, by which it imposed the obligation on the party to the proceedings to fulfill commitments in accordance with the operative part of decision.