Romania’s Competition Authority recommends fines for Metro, Selgros, Mega Image and Interex

The Competition Authority has concluded an investigation into the retail market that targeted Metro, Rewe (Selgros Cash & Carry, Mega Image, Interex and their suppliers and has recommended the slapping of fines for these retailers, with sanctions potentially reaching 2-4 percent of their turnover, reports Mediafax newswire.

Bogdan Chiritoiu, president of the Competition Council, has pointed out the investigation was completed in the first half of this years, and the results were submitted to the retailers. He said that the first hearings will take place at the end of October, and that the case should be finalized by the end of this year.

“The Competition Council proposes fines for the companies involved, but given that there are vertical arrangements, so a medium breach of the law, the sanctions amount according to the law between 2 to 4 percent of the turnover, which can be influenced by many factors, such as the duration of the market agreements,” said Chiritoiu.

The council has started to investigate the retail market in 2009. The first investigation targeted companies member of the Metro group – Metro Cash & Carry Romania, real – Hypermarket Romania, which was taken over by French group Auchan, MGB Metro Buying Group and their suppliers.

A second investigation targeted Rewe (Selgros Cash & Carry and Billa Romania, while the third and fourth involved Mega Image, CDE Interex and their suppliers.

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Chiritoiu commented that all the investigations were carried out in the same time because they related to the same breach of law.

‘Metro alone has businesses of around EUR 1 billion, so the enforced fines will be big. They will not exceed the amounts applied to fuel retailers, but will be large,” said the president.

The fines could reach several tens of millions of euros for the retail sector, considering that the retail groups have over EUR 2 billion in annual turnover.

Selgros reported a turnover of EUR 699.3 million last year, while the business of Mega Image stood at EUR 530 million. French Interex, which exited Romania at the end of 2012, had a turnover of EUR 40 million in the previous year.

It remains unclear what is the fine that will be enforced on real – Hypermarket Romania.

Oil companies have imposed fines of over EUR 200 million to fuel retailers, in an investigation concluded in 2011.

Ovidiu Posirca