The inspections were conducted in the first investigation regarding possible unfair trading practices between companies in the agricultural and food supply chain.
This in-depth investigation was triggered by clues provided by the company Prăvălia D Art SRL, which supplied the competition authority with documents suggesting possible unfair trading practices, prohibited by law, such as exceeding the payment terms set by the contract and unilaterally modifying the contractual clauses by Profi Rom Food SRL.
“We have stepped up our activity in the field of unfair competition using the new tools at our disposal, aiming to protect small companies from their larger business partners, who, being more powerful, can impose certain practices or contractual clauses that are to their advantage. Until now, we have had no formal complaints from manufacturers about the behaviour of traders. We hope that with this first case, we will encourage Romanian companies to come to us if they consider that the legislation regulating the relationship between retailers and suppliers is being violated”, said Bogdan Chiritoiu, president of the Competition Council.
Unannounced inspections are authorised by the Bucharest Court of Appeal and are justified by the need to obtain all the information and documents to clarify the possible unfair competition practice. Conducting the inspections does not represent a pre-judgement by the competition authority regarding the company’s guilt.
According to the legislation, if violations of fair commercial practices are found, the Competition Council can sanction with a fine of up to 600,000 lei and may ban specific commercial practices.
Since the entry into force of Law 81/2022 regarding unfair trading practices between companies in the agricultural and food supply chain, the competition authority has monitored the alignment of contracts between producers and retailers with the mentioned law.
Currently, the Competition Council is conducting an analysis on the impact of enforcing the law and has sent a series of questionnaires to identify the issues faced by producers or suppliers in their relations with retailers.