LITHUANIAN COMPETITION AUTHORITY WILL HAVE TO REDECIDE ON INDIVIDUALISATION OF FINES FOR CARTELISTS

The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (Court) rejected the appeal of the Lithuanian competition authority and upheld the decision of the court of first instance which ordered the authority to revisit joint bid-rigging fine imposed on the companies Jadrana and Pasvalio melioracija.

The Court ruled that Vilnius Regional Administrative Court had rightly annulled the authority’s part of the decision on joint EUR 399,200 fine imposed on the cartel firms and returned the case back to the authority to decide on the individualisation of the sanctions.

In June 2019, the Lithuanian Konkurencijos taryba announced that the companies Pasvalio melioracija, Jadrana, Panevėžio melioracija and Biržų ranga agreed on the prices in 25 public tenders on street and road repair and land melioration works organised by three municipalities from 2012 to 2017. By doing so, the companies helped each other to win contracts in different territories of Lithuania.

In November 2020, the Court rejected the appeal of Panevėžio melioracija and did not reduce EUR 209,800 fine imposed on the company by the competition authority. A final Court decision on the validity of EUR 368,900 fine imposed on Biržų ranga is still pending.