The Competition Council carried out unannounced inspections at the headquarters and workplaces of the company Profi Rom Food SRL in Timișoara and Bucharest. The inspections took place as part of the first investigation into possible unfair trading practices between companies in the agricultural and food supply chain.
This case of in-depth research was triggered following the clues provided by the company Prăvălia D Art SRL, which made available to the competition authority documents suggesting possible unfair commercial practices, prohibited by law, such as exceeding the payment terms established by the contract and the unilateral modification of the contractual clauses by Profi Rom Food SRL.
“We have intensified our work in the field of unfair competition using the new tools at our disposal, with the aim of protecting small firms against their larger trading partners, who, being more powerful, can impose certain practices or contractual clauses that are to their advantage their. So far we have had no official complaints from manufacturers regarding the behavior of traders. We hope that with this first case, we will encourage Romanian companies to come to us if they believe that the legislation regulating the relationship between traders and suppliers has been violated,” said Bogdan Chirițoiu, president of the Competition Council.
Unannounced inspections are authorized by the Bucharest Court of Appeal and are justified by the need to obtain all the information and documents necessary to clarify the possible practice of unfair competition. Carrying out inspections does not prejudge the competition authority regarding the company’s guilt.
“According to the legislation, in the situation where violations of fair commercial practices are found, the Competition Council can impose a fine of up to 600,000 lei and can prohibit certain commercial practices. Since the entry into force of Law 81/2022 on unfair commercial practices between businesses in the agricultural and food supply chain, the competition authority has overseen the compliance of contracts between manufacturers and retailers with the said law. The Competition Council is currently carrying out a review of the impact of enforcement and has sent out a series of questionnaires to identify issues manufacturers or suppliers face in dealing with retailers,” the Competition Council says in a press release.