SPIE Elektrovod and ASE Were Fined Almost CZK 34 Million for Public Procurement Cartel
The decision has not been appealed and is therefore final. The parties to the proceedings benefited from the leniency programme and the settlement procedure, for which their fines were reduced.
According to the findings of the Office, the competitors coordinated their participation and bids for three public contracts of the contracting authority ČEPS, a.s., which namely involved the award procedures "MIL – Repair of Switches by Replacement in the AD 03, 06 and 09 Field - Implementation"; "DAS - Replacement of DG (P.0473)" and "NOS - Replacement of Switch in the T402 Tertiary (G.0127)". The value of these contracts exceeded CZK 18 million.
The Office proved the anticompetitive conduct of both undertakings on the basis of the evidence of their phone, instant messaging and in-person communications. The undertakings coordinated their activities in tenders (bid rigging) and thus concluded a market division agreement and a price fixing agreement. These practices fall into the category of so-called hard-core cartels and constitute the most serious infringements of the Act on the Protection of Competition.
Both companies applied for the leniency and for the settlement procedure, for which their fines were significantly reduced to a total of CZK 32,498,000 for SPIE Elektrovod and CZK 1,419,000 for ASE. Thanks to the leniency and settlement applications, the undertakings also avoided the ban on the performance of public contracts, which may also be imposed by the Office for bid rigging cartels.
Press Unit of the Office
21/071 – S0377/2019
2025-07-02 / Office Fines Major Cartel in Railway Construction Sector More Than CZK 150 million By its first-instance decision, the Office for the Protection of Competition has imposed fines totalling CZK 157,693,000 on six undertakings for a series of cartel agreements related to public contracts...
2025-06-12 / EUROMEDIA and PEMIC Concentration Approval Subject to Commitments, Acquirer is Obliged to Divest the Wholesale Distribution of Printed Books The Office for the Protection of Competition (hereinafter referred to as “the Office”) has approved the concentration of undertaking EUROMEDIA GROUP, a.s., PEMIC BOOKS a.s. and BOOKNET s.r.o. subject...
2025-06-10 / The Office Launches Sector Inquiry in the Area of Publicly Accessible Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles The Office for the Protection of Competition (hereinafter referred to as "the Office") has launched a sector inquiry into the area of publicly accessible charging stations. Specifically, it is examining...
2025-04-25 / New competition tools: the way to more efficient competition law enforcement Opening remarks of the Chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition Petr Mlsna delivered at the Interanational Chamber of Commerce Czech the Antitrust Conference in Prague on 24 April 2025...
2025-04-22 / MIDs Competition Authorities: Strengthening Competitiveness and Competition in the EU Single Market The Czech Office for the Protection of Competition, together with the competition authorities of Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Austria, has issued a joint statement warning against...
2025-01-08 / Google Made Changes to one of its Services in Reaction to the Investigation of the Office Last year, the Office for the Protection of Competition investigated possible abuse of a dominant position by Google Czech Republic, s.r.o, its parent company Google International LLC and Google Ireland...
2024-11-19 / Pet Food Supplier VAFO Has to Pay CZK 120 million for Prohibited Resale Price Fixing The Office for the Protection of Competition (hereinafter referred to as “the Office”) imposed a fine of CZK 120,121,000 on the undertaking VAFO PRAHA (hereinafter referred to as "VAFO") for the...
2024-10-16 / The Office is Conducting a Dawn Raid at the Premises of the Undertaking Seznam.cz Following numerous media inquiries, we confirm that the Office for the Protection of Competition (hereinafter referred to as “the Office“) is conducting an unannounced inspection of Seznam.cz