DECEMBER 2019

The Estonian Competition Authority prohibits a merger on grounds of customer choice

The Estonian Competition Authority has prohibited a merger between two travel agencies due to worries that the merger would have resulted in the creation of a dominant position. The authority focused its attention on the service providers available post-merger for a minority of customers.

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Latvian Competition Council fines a DIY retailer for obstruction, because in appeal proceedings it puts forward new information that was not disclosed during investigation

In August 2017, the Competition Council adopted an infringement decision against three DIY retailers and signed a settlement agreement with a fourth. The alleged infringement is vertical and horizontal fixing of resale prices. Appeals are currently pending before the court of first instance. One of the retailers, DEPO DIY, has now been slammed with a new fine. According to the Competition Council, the witness statement made by one of DEPO DIY’s managers before the court contains new information that should have been disclosed during the investigation.

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The million–euro lunch: on the importance of compliance during dawn raids in Lithuania

The Lithuanian Competition Council has imposed a joint fine of over one million EUR against Mano būsto priežiūra and its subsidiary Būsto aplinka (both companies are part of the City Service group), providers of building maintenance services, for obstruction during a dawn raid and the ensuing investigation. The fine is the largest so far in Lithuania for a procedural infringement, and has been imposed regardless of the fact that the underlying investigation had been terminated due to lack of evidence.

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