Most of the sanctioned companies and the largest fines imposed by the Competition Council involve companies with foreign capital, said on Monday the president of the Competition Council, Bogdan Chiriţoiu, at the end of the hearing in the Economic, Industries and Services Commission of the Senate. Consiliul a fost acuzat de senatorul Daniel Zamfir că amendează cu preponderență companii cu capital românesc.
“I explained that the situation is exactly the opposite. The approach is unitary, because we have only one document: the sanctioning instructions. In general, the investigated companies and the sanctioned companies are large companies which, this is the situation in Romania, large companies have foreign capital rather than local. So there are a few large companies with local capital, and a few private and a few state-owned ones, but the vast majority of companies sanctioned by us and largest fines are given to companies with foreign capital. We do not have the mission to target foreign capital, but this is the reality in Romania, there are big companies,” said Bogdan Chiriţoiu, according to Agerpres.
He noted that 90% of the fines that the institution applies are to companies with foreign capital.
The President of the Competition Council was present on Monday at the Economic, Industries and Services Commission of the Senate where the analysis “Report on the investigations carried out and the sanctions applied by the Competition Council from 2019 to the present” was presented.
Senator Daniel Zamfir, chairman of the Economic Commission, blamed the Competition Council for an “increased appetite” to fine “substantially” domestic and even state-owned companies, given that there is a “slow pace” of taking action against companies that “either they have an agreement, or are cartelized, or they have a market monopoly.”
“We, the colleagues from the Economic Commission, did not try to judge the decisions of the Competition Council, but simply sound the alarm that there is a different approach in relation to companies, with companies with state capital being sanctioned and even the state companies that, from my point of view, should not have been approached like that, even the president of the Competition Council told us about the concerns of the Competition Council to make economically viable the state companies – CFR Marfă, Tarom. However, an economic turnaround by fining it by 16 million lei (e.n. Tarom) I think is far from the objective proposed by Mr. Chiriţoiu (…) There is a different approach of the Competition Council in relation to other sectors. As you have seen in the fuel market, in the banking system, in the energy market, even in the insurance market, there is such a slow pace on the part of the Competition Council to take action against companies that either have a deal, are cartelized or have a market monopoly. On the other hand, there is an increased appetite of the Competition Council to fine even with substantial amounts domestic companies and even state-owned companies,” Zamfir claimed on Monday, after the hearing in the commission of the president of the Competition Council, Bogdan Chiriţoiu.
He pointed out that the hearing of the Competition Council’s leadership took place following a notification from the Romanian Poultry Union, following an investigation by the Competition Council which resulted in “extremely large” fines.
Zamfir also stated that 81 out of 86 companies, most with Romanian capital, were sanctioned by the Competition Council.