Council of AMO decided on a cartel in public procurement in the field of energy
On 21 February 2024, the Council of the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic (the Council of AMO) issued a decision on the appeals of undertakings SPIE Elektrovod, a.s., AlterEnergo, a.s., and LiV ELEKTRA, a.s., against the first-instance decision of the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic (AMO) of 11 September 2023.
AMO had investigated the undertakings based on an initiative from the Stop Corruption Foundation for the suspicion of a possible anti-competitive behaviour consisting of coordinating the procedure of submitting bids to a public procurement. The public procurement had been announced by Slovak electricity transmission system with the object of supply of construction and assembly works, related goods and services necessary for the construction and commissioning of an electrical equipment.
Based on the outcomes of investigation, AMO had initiated an administrative proceeding against six undertakings in the matter of a possible agreement restricting competition and it had concluded that four undertakings had coordinated their procedure in the process of preparing and submitting bids to the public tender.
AMO had imposed a full fine and at the same time a ban on participation in a public procurement for three years on three undertakings (SPIE Elektrovod, a.s., AlterEnergo, a.s., LiV ELEKTRA, a.s.). For the fourth undertaking (KLEMENT, a.s.), it had additionally reduced a fine and at the same time it had banned him from participating in public procurements for one year. It had stopped the proceeding against the other two undertakings (VUJE, a.s., and EGEM s.r.o.), as it had not been proved that they had infringed the provisions of the Act on the Protection of Competition.1
The Council of AMO partially upheld the AMO´s decision, imposed a full fine and at the same time a ban on participation in public procurements for three years on the undertakings
- SPIE Elektrovod, a.s., on which it imposed a fine of EUR 4 436 700,
- AlterEnergo, a.s., on which it imposed a fine of EUR 1 792 500 and
- LiV ELEKTRA, a.s., on which it imposed a fine of EUR 776 200.
The Council of AMO also upheld the termination of proceeding against undertakings VUJE, a.s., and EGEM s.r.o., as it was not proved that they had infringed the provisions of the Act on the Protection of Competition.
The Council of AMO adopted a different conclusion in relation to acknowledging the involvement of the undertaking KLEMENT, a.s., in a leniency programme than the first instance body. While it had declined its involvement in the leniency programme due to a failure to provide all the evidence and necessary cooperation, the Council of AMO evaluated its cooperation as sufficient and contributing to proving the existence of the cartel agreement. Therefore, the Council of AMO changed the ruling of decision so that it imposed a reduced fine in the amount of EUR 159 700 on the undertaking, taking into account the given fact, and at the same time it did not ban it from participating in public procurements. Furthermore, the undertaking had applied for the institute of settlement, when it had admitted its participation in breaching the Act and taken the responsibility for it, which also affected the amount of fine.
The Council of AMO imposed fines in the total amount of EUR 7 165 100.
The Council of AMO, likewise AMO, concluded that the undertakings SPIE, a.s., Alter Energo, a.s., KLEMENT, a.s., and Liv Elektra, a.s., had not behaved independently during submitting bids to the public procurement. Considering the number of bids submitted and the fact that the anti-competitive behaviour of other two undertakings, who submitted a bid in the given procurement, was not proved, neither AMO nor the Council of AMO stated that the assessed procedure had had a predetermined winner. However, the proved behaviour of four undertakings had reduced competitive pressures and had been aimed at excluding competition between the undertakings in the procurement, and therefore it had fulfilled the characteristics of cartel.
The decision came into force on 29 February 2024.
1 AMO had informed on the issuing of the first-instance decision via its press release available at CARTELS: AMO imposed a fine of more than 7,2 mil. on four undertakings for a cartel in public procurement in the field of energy (only in Slovak).