Romania’s Competition Council has sanctioned nine companies active on the agriculture machinery market with total fines worth RON 127 mln (EUR 26.5 mln).

The competition authority found that the nine companies fixed the sale prices for Claas and Amazone products between 2014 and 2018. They agreed on having the same prices for products under these brands to not compete against each other, especially in the context of EU funded projects.

Two of the companies that participated in this agreement admitted their anti-competition practices and got lower fines.

German company Claas Global Sales got the highest fine – EUR 13.73 mln. Another German company – Amazonen-Werke H. Dreyer was fined EUR 6.01 mln, and Claas Regional Center South East Europe was fined EUR 4.3 mln.

The investigation started in 2017 based on an anonymous notification filed on the Competition Council’s dedicated platform.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Myrchella/Dreamstime.com)