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
2025-01-08 / 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
2024-10-01 / Merger of PPF Group and Nordic Telecom May Take Place Subject to Commitments The Office for the Protection of Competition has cleared the merger by its final decision, as a result of which PPF TMT Holdco 2 B.V. may acquire, through O2 Czech Republic a.s., sole control over Nordic...
2024-09-16 / The 2024 St. Martin's Conference Program Will Offer a new Competition Tool and Private Enforcement The Office for the Protection of Competition (hereinafter referred to as "the Office") is preparing the 17th annual St. Martin Conference on trends, news and hot topics in the field of competition. The...
2024-07-11 / English Version of Annual Report 2023 published The Office for the Protection of Competition presents the English version of its annual report for the year 2023, summarising the results of its activities in all areas of its competence, i.e., in the...
2024-06-19 / Office for the Protection of Competition Cooperates with European Public Prosecutor's Office Today in Luxembourg, Mr Petr Mlsna, the Chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition, signed an agreement with the European chief prosecutor, Ms Laura Codruţa Kövesi, on cooperation between...
2024-05-09 / The Office Revealed and Punished Another Cartel Agreement between Construction Companies The Office for the Protection of Competition imposed fines totalling CZK 7,442,000 on the construction companies B.H.S. BOHEMIA, a.s., SEŽEV facility s.r.o., COMMODUM, spol. s r.o. and Hroší stavby...
