COMPETITION COUNCIL WILL CONSIDER APPEALING THE COURT‘S RULING ON THE PHARMACIES’ AGREEMENT

The Regional Administrative Court issued a ruling yesterday on the contested decision of the Competition Council, which had established that pharmaceuticals companies entered into an anti-competitive agreement.

The panel of judges upheld the complaint lodged by the Lithuanian Pharmacy Association (LPA) and eight pharmaceutical companies, and annulled the Competition Council’s decision of 9 December 2022, which had concluded that the LPA and the pharmaceutical companies had concluded an agreement on the margins of reimbursable medicines.

According to the court, the actions of the association and the companies in the legislative process examined in the case are not considered a violation of the Law on Competition.

The Competition Council will assess the arguments presented by the court and consider the possibility of appealing the decision to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania.

In its 2022 decision, the Competition Council found that while submitting coordinated margins and their calculations, the LPA and the pharmaceutical companies had a significant influence on the decisions of the Ministry of Health regarding the margins. The Ministry, which did not have information on the costs incurred by businesses, relied on the margins agreed between the LPA and competitors, and subsequently – having made amendments agreed with the LPA – approved them. For the violation of the Law on Competition and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, fines totalling more than EUR 72 million were imposed.