The Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic Imposed a Fine Exceeding EUR 675,000 for the Abuse of Dominance
On 22 January 2025, the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic issued a decision imposing a fine of EUR 675,200 on United Classifieds s.r.o. for abusing its dominant position in providing online real estate advertising services in the Slovak Republic.
The AMO found that, since 2020, the company had been imposing unreasonable business conditions on its corporate customers, particularly real estate agencies, brokers, and developers. Specifically, it offered advertising on its three main online real estate portals exclusively as a 'bundle,' meaning only on all three portals simultaneously, with no option to choose a specific portal or a desired combination.
At the same time, United Classifieds restricted technical access to its portals from 2020 to early 2022 for real estate agencies using competing software to manage their listings. The company favored, or actively promoted, its own software solution. By doing so, it limited the ability to automatically import listings to the advertising portals, which is an efficient, simple, and quick way for real estate agencies to manage advertisements, saving both time and money.
Both of these forms of conduct negatively affected not only the operations of the real estate agencies (through restricted technical access to real estate portals, limited product choices, and the charging of fees for services they were not interested in), but also the competition in the affected markets.
Along with the fine, the AMO imposed an obligation on United Classifieds to cease the unlawful conduct that was ongoing at the time of the decision and to remedy the situation within 90 days of the decision becoming final.
The decision has not yet become final, and the company may lodge an appeal within the statutory period.
A public version of the decision will be made available in the coming weeks.