The Competition Council fined Romanian companies with Austrian capital over 150 million euros. A hotel no longer accepts Austrian tourists

By RBJ
The Competition Council has, over time, investigated several companies with Austrian shareholders, and some of them have been fined approximately 713 million lei, based on the evidence obtained and then supported before the courts, according to the data sent by the authority of competition, at the request of News.ro. Also, the Competition Council is currently conducting investigations involving Austrian companies in the financial-banking field, such as Banca Comercială Română and Raiffeisen Bank Romania, Asirom, Omniasig and Uniqa Asigurări SA.
“We launch investigations when we have indications that things are not working as they should from a competitive point of view, and we apply sanctions based on the evidence gathered over months and even years of work. Some of the sanctioned companies admit the facts, but often our fines are challenged in court. However, we win over 90% of these, and the companies have to pay because they broke the law”, said Bogdan Chiriţoiu, the president of the Competition Council for News.ro.
Among the companies with Austrian shareholders fined by the Competition Council are OMV Petrom and OMV Petrom Marketing, which were sanctioned with 503 million lei, after the authority proved that they were part of a cartel on the fuel market, agreeing to withdraws an assortment of gasoline from the market. Along with these, other oil companies were also fined, and the total amount approached 900 million lei.
Egger Romania, the Kronospan group companies and HS Timber Production, known as Holzindustrie Schweighofer, were also fined for anti-competitive agreements on the wood trading market. Together, the companies were fined over 119 million lei.
The competition authority also imposed fines on the RCA market, after discovering that Omniasig Vienna Insurance Group, Asirom Vienna Insurance Group and Uniqa Asigurări SA, together with other companies in the field, agreed to increase the rates for compulsory insurance civil liability (RCA). The three Austrian companies were fined approximately 91 million lei.
Currently, the Competition Council is investigating Banca Comercială Română and Raiffeisen Bank Romania, because they allegedly participated in the establishment of the ROBID/ROBOR reference rates. The two banks are part of the network of ten banking entities unexpectedly inspected by the competition authority at the end of this year.
The Competition Council still has open investigations on the car maintenance and repair market, targeting Asirom, Omniasig and Uniqa Asigurări SA.
Boehringer Ingelheim is being investigated for abuse of a dominant position on the market for oral anticoagulant drugs. The competition authority has indications that the Austrian firm implemented marketing strategies that influenced the prescription of its drug by doctors, thus limiting the market. Moreover, it would have prevented the entry of the medicine Spiriva into the market.
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A hotel in Alba county (central Romania) will refuse Austrian tourists, as well as payment with cards issued by Austrian banks, as a protest for blocking Romania’s accession to the Schengen area. Hotel Elisabeta in Alba Iulia has announced a series of protest measures against Austrian tourists, as well as payment with cards issued by Austrian banks.
“With regret for the Austrian citizens who do not share the myth of the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, the management of the Hotel ELISABETA Alba Iulia informs the Austrian tourists and the more than 200 travel agencies in the country and abroad with which it has signed collaboration contracts:
– starting from 01.01.2023, it will no longer honor any booking request for Austrian tourists for an indefinite period – it will no longer accept payment with cards issued by Austrian banking institutions! We resort to these measures as a sign of protest against Austria’s negative vote for Romania’s accession to the Schengen area,” the representatives of Hotel Elisabeta sent.