The Plenary Session of the Competition Commission (EA) with no. 767/2022 its unanimous decision, during the simplified Dispute Settlement procedure of article 25a of law 3959/2011 and in accordance with no. 720/2020 its decision, accepted the relevant proposals for the Settlement of the Dispute submitted by the companies (a) ), (c) “SALAS INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ANONYME COMPANY” (hereinafter referred to as SALAS) and (D) “G. APOSTOLOPOULOS – P. RAKOPOULOU SERVICES OF SAITIS – FOCUS – ORIGINATION OF EVENTS – CATERING LIMITED RESPONSIBILITY COMPANY” (hereinafter BRAND).
The Decision was issued during the above simplified procedure, following a relevant expression of interest on the part of the companies for their inclusion in the procedure and a consequent final declaration of acceptance of the infringement found.
Fines
EA imposed reduced fines due to the dispute settlement process (15% reduction) for the execution of the violation, based on the reasoning of the Decision, of article 1 of law 3959/2011, ie amounting to 120,938.45 euros to the company POT & PAN, 125,253.69 euros to the company TZANETOS, 56,103.94 euros to the company SALAS and 2,131.81 to the company PLIADES (Total fines: 304,427.89 euros).
Dispute Settlement Procedure
The Dispute Settlement Procedure concerns the cases where companies or associations of companies voluntarily and unreservedly admit their participation in a horizontal cartel, in violation of article 1 of Law 3959/2011 and / or article 101 TFEU, and facilitate, with the in this way, the procedure for establishing the infringement by the Competition Commission. In these cases a reduction of the fine by 15% is granted under certain conditions.
The purpose of the dispute settlement procedure is the simplification and acceleration of the administrative procedure for issuing decisions by the Competition Commission for violations of article 1 of Law 3959/2011 and / or article 101 TFEU, as well as the limitation of the number of appeals filed against decisions of the Commission before the Administrative Court of Appeal of Athens.
This enables EA to deal with more cases with its own resources and with less administrative burden, thus increasing the deterrent nature of its action and at the same time enhancing citizens’ interest in effective and timely punishment. of offenders.
Record
Following publications in the summer of 2018 that came to the knowledge of the Directorate-General for Competition (GDA) and the preliminary investigation carried out, it was decided to launch an ex-officio investigation to examine the conditions of competition in the markets for immigrant / refugee feeding services. KYT) located on the islands of the North and East Aegean. During the years 2018-2020, the GDA carried out on-site inspections, received illegal deposits and sent letters of evidence-questionnaires to collect data for its research.
From the investigation of the Service, agreements emerged, which were concluded between the aforementioned companies and fall within the meaning of the agreement between companies according to article 1 of Law 3959/2011. These agreements had, on a case-by-case basis, the joint and exclusive activity for the future of the respective companies involved in the provision of catering services to the migrant / refugee reception structures, through their participation in the relevant competitions on specific islands. In particular, the agreements concerned, on a case-by-case basis:
the island of Chios, for the companies POT & PAN and SALAS (duration of participation in the violation regarding the island in question and for the two companies involved: 28.01.2018 – 09.03.2019) Ë™ and
the island of Lesvos, for the companies POT & PAN (duration of participation in the violation in relation to the said island: 25.02.2017 – 31.12.2018), SALAS (duration of participation in the violation in relation to the said island: 3.11.2017 – 31.12. 2018), TZANETOS (duration of participation in the violation: 25.2.2017 – 31.12.2018) and Pleiades (duration of participation in the violation: 03.11.2017-31.12.2018).
The audited companies, for which evidence was collected capable of proving a violation of article 1 of law 3959/2011, expressed their interest in writing to investigate their possibility of being included in the dispute settlement process and submitted a relevant request, in accordance with the provisions of par. 30 of the Dispute Settlement Notice.
Related Market
The relevant geographic markets for services in this case are the markets for the provision of refugee catering services through public tenders on the islands: (a) Chios and (b) Lesvos.
Legal assessment
The obligation of exclusive cooperation contained in the contracts concluded between the aforementioned companies for a future number of tenders resulted in the exclusion of participation and competitive activity of each of the partner companies independently or in association with other companies and the exclusion of competitors. the consequent restriction of the availability of the relevant services. Therefore, the above companies entered into a horizontal partnership with the object of restricting the provision of refugee / migrant food services in the specific structures of the islands of Lesvos and Chios, which constitutes a serious restriction of competition and falls under the prohibition provision of article 1 par. 1 of Law 3959/2011.
It is noted that this is the fifth case when the companies involved come to the settlement in a stage without having been previously given a relevant Proposal, a fact which increases the procedural efficiency of EA.
Source: Capital
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
