Price Hike Announcements May Breach Competition Law, Competition Council warns

The Competition Council warns that each company must independently determine its commercial policy, and anticipating a specific price to be applied can fall under the provisions of Competition Law.

“It is natural for demand for certain products, such as eggs, to rise during the Easter holidays. However, statements from company representatives announcing their intention to raise prices for their products can lead to coordinated behavior among competitors and to artificially inflated market prices. These types of actions are penalized under both national and European competition rules, as they distort competition and harm consumers,” stated Bogdan Chirițoiu, President of the Competition Council.

The competition authority also warns that an association can be held responsible for violating competition rules when its decisions, recommendations, or any other activities influence company behavior in a way that affects competition between them.

Thus, the Competition Council advises companies to avoid any practices that might breach competition legislation and to consult the institution regarding the compliance of their initiatives with the law.

It is worth recalling that the competition authority fined five companies involved in the production and/or sale of consumption eggs in Romania, along with their association (UCPR), a total of 13,471,039 lei (approx. €2.78 million), for coordinating their commercial policies concerning product deliveries. The association facilitated these actions with the goal of artificially increasing prices or at least halting price decreases.

The Council found that company representatives regularly met under the association’s umbrella to discuss issues in the poultry sector and to plan joint actions related to production and distribution, exchanging competitively sensitive information.

Furthermore, the competition authority imposed several corrective measures on UCPR, which it is required to implement:

i. To no longer disclose company-specific data to its members, but only aggregate information at the association level;

ii. To grant full access to this aggregated information to non-member companies who request it to prepare their market entry;

iii. To inform its members about the changes made to the association’s information-sharing system.

The sanctioned companies include: Toneli Holding SA, Avicola Lumina SA, Avicola București SA, Albatros Gold SRL, and Super Eggs SRL.