Chiritoiu’s five-year term as head of the antitrust authority ends Tuesday, May 6.
Competition Council members are appointed by the council’s head, at the proposition of the government, for five-year terms which may be extended only once.
During Chiritoiu’s mandate, the antitrust authority opened 104 investigations and completed 101 such procedures. Fines applied between 2009 and 2013 rose to EUR354 million (RON1.5 billion).
Among the biggest cases involving the antitrust authority in 2013 were the cartel that withdrew Eco Premium fuel from the market, an investigation the authority completed in 2011 and contested by ENI, MOL, OMV-Petrom, Lukoil, OMV Petrom Marketing, and Rompetrol, and the dominant position on the telecom market of operators Orange and Vodafone, investigation also completed in 2011.