MANAGER DISQUALIFIED AFTER THE COMPANY HAS BEEN HELD LIABLE FOR ANTITRUST VIOLATION

Vilnius Regional Administrative Court (Court) satisfied the request of Konkurencijos taryba to impose personal liability on the former manager of Žagarės inžinerija for his direct involvement in the anti-competitive agreement between his firm and its competitor. The Court decided to restrict the right of the company’s manager to occupy managerial position in the public or private sector for three years.

In 2016 Konkurencijos taryba acknowledged that competitors Žagarės inžinerija and Rovaltra rigged their bids in the public procurement for the purchase of technical equipment and thus infringed the Law on Competition. Rovaltra was fined EUR 70,400, Žagarės inžinerija EUR 33 400.

The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania upheld the judgment of the administrative court in 2019 stating that there were reasonable grounds for Konkurencijos taryba to hold companies liable for bid-rigging.

The Court’s decision on personal liability can be appealed.

So far Konkurencijos taryba requested the Court to impose personal liability on 20 managers of different companies for entering into anti-competitive agreements. Three of them have been restricted of the right to occupy managerial positions in the public or private sector for four years by the administrative court. Final judgments on personal liability for the remaining 16 managers have not yet been adopted.

The Law on Competition stipulates that the manager of an undertaking who has been found to have been involved in an anti-competitive agreement or in an abuse of a dominant position, may be restricted from the right to be the manager of a public and (or) private legal person, or a member of the collegial supervisory and (or) governing body of a public and (or) private legal person for a period of three to five years. Additionally, a fine of up to almost EUR 14,500 may be imposed. Managers who no longer work for the company, but are suspected of having been involved in the competition law infringement, may be held liable as well.