Speaking at the conference Mediafax Talks about Competition, Chiritoiu pointed out that lowering by up to 30% the fine applied for violating competition norms, if firms admit their wrongdoing, will help authorities settle antitrust cases faster.
He said the fine applied to companies that ask for clemency will have a minimum level, while for companies which committed abuses of power the fine will reach its maximum level.
Under the new competition law, the Government may block company takeover operations if the country’s defense council CSAT believes such moves threaten national security.
The Prosecutor’s Office will be able to investigate anticompetitive crimes without being notified by the Competition Council, and prosecutors and competition inspectors will run their inquiries at the same time.
Another new provision says that if a company explicitly admits to having committed an anticompetitive act and, where applicable, proposes remedies, this will be noted as a mitigating circumstance and the fine will be 10%-30% lower.
According to an annual report, the competition watchdog ran 23 investigations in 2010, compared to 27 in 2009 and finished 18 investigations, from only six in the previous year.
The Competition Council applied fines amounting to 132.5 million lei (EUR31.5 million) in 2010, compared to RON8.7 million in 2009. (EUR1=RON4.2778)