COMPETITION COUNCIL: THE INVESTIGATION MATERIAL RETURNED FOR ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATION

Having thoroughly assessed the circumstances and evidence established in the course of the investigation and having considered the statements presented by the parties to the proceedings during the sitting, the Competition Council decided to return for additional investigation the case concerning the undertakings engaged in wholesale trading in medicines, medical products and equipment and the compliance of the activities of such undertakings with the requirements of Article 5 of the Law on Competition of the Republic of Lithuania and Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (ex. Art. 81 of the Treaty establishing the European Community).

The officials that had conducted the investigation had proposed to the Competition Council to recognise that the medicine providers and a number of companies engaged in the wholesale trade in medicines had concluded vertical agreements which tend to limit customers to which wholesalers may sell the contracted goods, and whereby manufacturers restricted the possibilities of wholesalers to establish their sale prices.

The Competition Council passed the resolution concerning the additional investigation having assessed the new circumstantial evidence presented by the parties to the proceedings and having concluded the necessity to properly establish all circumstances related to the investigation that may possibly affect the assessment of the actions of the undertakings concerned from the competition law viewpoint, also the need for a thorough analysis of the relevant legal regulation framework pertaining to the vertical relations of the undertakings involved.

Having passed the resolution on the additional investigation the Competition Council does not rule out a possibility of a different treatment of the alleged infringement of the Law on Competition, or a change in the list of suspected violators.