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Inspection in the sector of geodesy and cartography

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The Division of Cartels of the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic can confirm that its officials initiated unannounced inspections at the premises of companies active in the sector of geodesy and cartography (mapping the earth's surface and providing products and services related thereto). The inspections were carried out on the basis of reasonable suspicion that the investigated companies agreed on price fixing of goods and services, market allocation and coordinated behaviour in more public procurements (so called “bid rigging”). Based on the information obtained, part of the agreement between undertakings was implemented at least since 2002 to the present.

Cartel agreements in public procurement (so called „bid rigging“) are arrangements between some or all bidders in a tender. Cooperation may take the form of agreements on prices, sharing contracts or other form of coordination, including an agreement not to submit a bid or an agreement on rotation of contracts. Since these agreements represent horizontal agreements between direct competitors, which are considered as hard-core cartels, cartel participant may be fined up to 10 % of its turnover for the proceeding closed accounting period.

The fact that the AMO SR carried out such inspections does not mean that the companies have violated the competition rules; nor does it prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself. The AMO SR does not provide detailed information on investigation at this stage.