UAB LITCON FINED FOR OBSTRUCTION OF THE INSPECTION

On 17 July, the Competition Council (Konkurencijos taryba, KT) imposed a fine of LTL 615 000 (~EUR 178,116) on UAB LitCon (LitCon) for obstructing the inspection and thus impeding the investigation.

The KT launched an investigation after the officers of the KT carried out an inspection in the premises of one of the undertakings, suspected of bid rigging. During the inspection the officers of the KT were precluded from obtaining a certain document potentially having evidential value in the investigation. Regardless of the warnings and explanations about the liability under the law, the employee of the inspected company left the premises taking the requested document with him and only returned after a while. Such conduct gave rise to the risks that the requested document could have been damaged or amended and, thus, its evidential value could have been lost.

The KT concluded that such conduct amounted to an obstruction of the inspection thus impeding the investigation and found that LitCon infringed the Law on Competition.

The KT notes that obstructions of inspections make the finding of the alleged infringements of Law on Competition more difficult, if not impossible. To this end, the Law on Competition stipulates a possibility to impose a fine of up to one per cent of the annual turnover of the inspected undertaking for obstructing the investigation. Such fine can be imposed regardless of whether the alleged infringement that initially led to an inspection has been established.

Communication Division