The inspection was conducted in March 2023 as part of an investigation into possible price-fixing agreements in the butter production and sale market.
The Competition Council previously announced that, following an unannounced inspection carried out at the end of March 2023, it had sanctioned Albalact S.A., Covalact S.A. and Dorna Lactate S.A. for failing to allow competition inspectors access to certain email accounts or correspondence used by employees or representatives of the companies.
At the same time, in order to compel the companies to provide access to information, the antitrust body imposed penalty payments totaling RON130,913 for each day of delay. The amount was calculated from the date on which the sanction was communicated until the date on which the companies would allow the institution’s representatives access to the requested information and documents.
With this ruling, the Competition Council has definitively won all three court cases in which Albalact S.A., Covalact S.A. and Dorna Lactate S.A. challenged the sanctions imposed for obstructing the inspections.
Unannounced inspections are authorized by the Bucharest Court of Appeal and are justified by the need to obtain all the information and documents required to clarify any potential anti-competitive practices under investigation.
Under competition law, competition inspectors may request any information related to the subject matter of an investigation and the companies that refuse to cooperate with the authority or obstruct its activities during investigations may be fined between 0.1% and 1% of their total turnover achieved in the financial year preceding the year in which the sanction is imposed.