• Fines for concentration without the consent of the President of the Office and for failure to provide information during the proceedings - these are the latest decisions of the President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny regarding concentration control.
• Sanctions in the total amount of approx. PLN 850 thousand were imposed on AmeriGas Polska (PLN 730 thousand) and Linde Gaz Polska (PLN 120 thousand).

President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection Tomasz Chróstny issued two decisions on concentration control, under which he imposed financial fines on entrepreneurs. The decisions concern AmeriGas that failed to notify the concentration and Linde Gaz for failing to cooperate with the Office during the proceedings.

Fine for failure to report concentration

AmeriGas Polska took over control of the Gas Distribution Center in Gdynia without obtaining the prior consent of the President of UOKiK despite the fact that the entrepreneur was obliged to do so. The companies entered into a lien agreement that guaranteed AmeriGas additional powers to influence key management decisions of the Gas Distribution Center. Conclusion of a lien agreement on shares or stocks, pursuant to the provisions of the Act on Competition and Consumer Protection, does not require the consent of the President of UOKiK, provided that the entrepreneur does not exercise the rights arising from those shares or stocks (except for the right to sell them). AmeriGas, in turn, exercised these rights, e.g. by blocking the sales of an organized part of the assets of the Gas Distribution Center, which was then partly acquired by AmeriGas.

“AmeriGas failed to notify the Office of the concentration, we learned about it from other sources. The company was aware of the existence of such an obligation, as in another case it applied for the consent of the President of the Office - then the regulations were clear to the entrepreneur. In my opinion, the Company acted deliberately from the beginning, thus violating applicable laws protecting market competition. In this case, I found no extenuating circumstances and decided to impose a financial sanction,” says Tomasz Chróstny, President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. The fine imposed on AmeriGas was PLN 730 thousand.

According to the law, the transaction is subject to notification to the President of UOKiK if it involves entrepreneurs whose total turnover in the preceding year exceeded EUR 1 billion worldwide or EUR 50 million in Poland. Fine for failure to notify on the intention of concentration amounts up to 10% of the entrepreneur’s turnover achieved in the year preceding the issuance of the decision. Individual undertaking of a concentration without the consent thereto is a violation of the antitrust law.

Fines for non-cooperation

Another decision imposing a financial fine concerns Linde Gaz Polska in Kraków, which failed to provide the information requested by UOKiK. When assessing one of the reported cases of concentration on the liquid carbon dioxide market, the President of the Office decided to conduct a market study and addressed questions to all entrepreneurs operating in this sector. Under the law, they are obliged to provide all necessary information and documents, otherwise they risk a financial sanction. Linde Gaz failed to respond within the deadline, and the response was received two months later. Therefore, the President of UOKiK has instigated an investigation procedure for imposing a fine. The fine imposed on the entrepreneur was PLN 120 thousand. 

“The purpose of the market study is to assess the status of competition and concentration. We collect data necessary to determine, inter alia, the market position of the participants in the concentration and their competitors, we also get to know the opinions of other entities operating on the market. These are the entrepreneurs who know the most about the problems, how the relations with competitors look like and should be interested in cooperating with the Office,” explains the President of UOKiK.

We would like to remind that the website of UOKiK publishes information on all concentration-related anti-trust proceedings conducted by the Office. More information about the principles governing concentration of entrepreneurs can be found in a dedicated paper.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
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Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL