The Competition Council (CC) has won so far all the processes it had at the High Court of Cassation and Justice on appeals against the given fines, Bogdan Chiritoiu, the president of the Competition Authority stated in a interview, agerpres.ro informs.
“We have a success rate at the High Court of 100 percent, and at the Court of Appeal – of almost 85 percent. We’re much better in this respect than the competition authorities in other countries, which have also lost some processes where the companies have contested the fines received,” Chiriţoiu said.
Just recently, CC has announced that has irrevocably won the processes with all six oil companies sanctioned in 2011 and have challenged in court the decision of the competition authority, namely OMV Petrom, OMV Petrom Marketing, Rompetrol Downstream SRL, MOL Romania Petroleum Products SRL, ENI Romania SRL and Lukoil Romania SRL.
Also, the Court has reduced the fines by almost 20 percent in all six cases.
“All six cases were confirmed by the High Court, which represents the recognition that our decisions are correct and well grounded, similar to competition authorities in other countries,” the president of CC noted.
At end-2011, CC has sanctioned six oil companies with fine of approx. EUR 205 million for anti competitive agreements.