The court ruling is final, but the Competition Council can challenge it with the Supreme Court.
“The D&B Davis și Baias lawyers, the correspondent law firm of PwC Romania, have obtained in court a significant reduction in the fine imposed by the Competition Council on Farmexpert DCI SA for the breaching of the provisions of art. 5 in the Competition law, as well as those of art. 101 of TFUE, through the “establishment of understandings” for the interdiction of the export and import of Bayer products, as well as for the export of Sintofarm products,” the law firm said in a statement Tuesday.
The antitrust body announced in March 2012 that it would apply fines worth EUR12 million to several pharmaceutical companies for entering anticompetitive agreements aimed at banning exports of Bayer and Sintofarm products. The antitrust body’s inquiry started in September 2009 and was finalized in 2011.
Pharmaceutical companies Bayer, Sintofarm and pharmaceutical wholesalers Mediplus, Polisano, Relad, Farmexim, Farmexpert, Fildas, Montero, ADM and Pharmafarm were fined a total RON51.52 million lei (around EUR12 million) for having colluded to ban exports of Bayer and Sintofarm products.
The watchdog imposed fine of RON7.25 million on Bayer, RON63,000 on Sintofarm, RON11.74 million on Mediplus, RON3.75 million on Polisano, RON1.58 million on Relad, RON4.85 million on Farmexim, RON10.99 million on Farmexpert, RON5.82 million on Fildas, RON75,000 on Montero, RON3.97 million on ADM and RON1.38 million on Pharmafarm.
Farmexpert is the second largest pharmaceutical wholesaler on the Romanian market and its rivals include companies Mediplus, Farmexim, Fildas and Polisano. (EUR1=RON4.4154)