The Office Imposed Maximum Possible Fines for Obstruction of a Dawn Raid
The undertakings Marc spol. s.r.o., EUROTUBES s.r.o. and HK STEEL TRADING s.r.o. operating in the field of supply of metallurgical materials will pay a total of CZK 959 000.
The managing directors of the abovementioned undertakings prevented an unannounced dawn raid, during which the Office's employees were supposed to search for and secure evidence of the possible anticompetitive conduct. The undertakings are legally obliged to cooperate with the Office in such a case. Failure to do so constitutes an offence punishable by a fine of up to CZK 300 000 or up to 1% of the turnover of the undertaking in question.
In view of the seriousness of the conduct, the Office imposed fines of the maximum amount of CZK 300 000 on HK STEEL TRADING s.r.o. and 1% of the turnover for the last completed accounting period on the other two undertakings (CZK 326 000 on Marc spol. s r.o. and CZK 333 000 on EUROTUBES s.r.o.).
All these fines were imposed in the form of an order. Two of them were not appealed, and, thus, the orders subsequently became final. Only Marc spol. s.r.o. made use of the possibility to file an appeal, and, therefore, the Office initiated typical administrative proceedings, in which the fine was imposed by decision. This decision is not yet final and can be appealed.
The Office is currently also conducting further administrative proceedings concerning the same type of offence.
Press Unit of the Office for the Protection of Competition
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