Competition Council starts investigation into HP Romania after distributor complaint

Romania's Competition Council, which is currently investigating Hewlett – Packard (HP) Romania and its distributors, recently went on an unexpected inspection at HP's headquarters in Bucharest, after complaints of a potential infringement of national and EU competition law. The council investigators took statements and picked up documents for the investigation.

“We suspect a potential abuse of dominant position at HP Romania, translated as a discrimination against one of its contract partners. This can affect competition on the market for HP's printing products and connected services,” said Bogdan Chiriţoiu, president of the Competition Council. If the investigation shows HP Romania is guilty of anti-competition behavior, the Council can apply a fine of up to 10 percent of HP Romania's turnover. The company's turnover in 2010 was of some EUR 47.8 million. The council has been busy in recent months. It recently applied a EUR 12 million fine to 11 pharma companies, after investigating Bayer, Sintofarm and their distributors in Romania for anti-competition agreements. The Council recently finalized another investigation in the pharma sector, but none of the investigated companies were fined. editor@romania-insider.com