The inspections were part of an investigation into possible rigging of public tenders for the marketing of IT&C equipment supplied by Cisco Systems Romania SRL.
“These were among the largest inspections we have carried out, both in terms of duration, we are talking about 3 days at the companies’ headquarters, and of the human resources involved, requiring the effort of extensive teams of specialists”, said Bogdan Chiritoiu, President of the Competition Council.
The competition authority has indications that public tenders for marketing equipment provided by CISCO were possibly shared among bidders with the support of the supplier, either directly or through authorized distributors, to favor firms. The potential anticompetitive practice is believed to have started at least in 2019, the watchdog said in a statement.
The companies where unannounced inspections were carried out are: Cisco Systems Romania SRL, Arctic Stream SA, Datanet Systems SRL, Dataware Consulting SRL, Dendrio Solutions SRL, ETA2U SRL, Evotech-IT SRL, Logic Computer SRL, Metaminds SA, Trencadis Corp SRL, Alef Distribution RO SA, Ingram Micro Distribution SRL, Logicom Information Technology Distribution SRL and Prime Telecom SRL, the statement reads.
Unannounced inspections are authorized by the Bucharest Court of Appeal and are justified by the need to obtain all the information and documents necessary to clarify the possible anticompetitive practices analyzed. Their performance does not prejudge the guilt of the companies involved.
It should be noted that some of the indications leading to the initiation of the investigation were provided by contracting authorities and through the Competition Council’s whistleblower platform. Additionally, indices resulted from the analysis carried out by the Competition Council on the public procurement procedures in the market under investigation, according to the statement.
If the Competition Council finds that the competition rules have been violated, the companies involved risk fines of up to 10% of their turnover. However, companies cooperating with the competition authority under the leniency program can obtain immunity from fines or substantial reductions in fines.