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CARTELS: AMO initiated the administrative proceedings in the matter of possible cartel agreement in public procurement co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund

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On 24 November 2014 Division of Cartels of the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic initiated ex officio the administrative proceedings in the matter of possible agreement restricting competition concluded between the undertakings acting in the area of construction.

Based on gathered evidence the Office has suspected that three suppliers providing construction and reconstruction work coordinated their behaviour in submitting price bids in public tender within the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Economic Growth and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

Public tender related to supplies of goods and services for reconstruction of recreational resort in region of Žilina in the total amount of EUR 1 207 155,04.

Since these agreement represent horizontal agreement between direct competitors, which is considered as the most serious infringement of competition rules, it means hard-core cartel, cartel participants may be fined up to 10 % of their turnover for the preceding closed accounting period.

A cartel participant has an option to fully avoid a fine if he was the first to provide, on its own initiative, decisive evidence to prove a violation of the prohibited agreement or was the first to provide, on its own initiative, information and evidence being decisive to perform an inspection or he may reach its reducing up to 50%. Detailed conditions of non-imposing or reducing a fine are summarised in the document “Leniency program”.

The fact that the Office initiated the administrative proceedings does not imply that the entity concerned has infringed the competition rules, nor does it prejudge the conclusions which the Office may reach in its decision.