• : The Competition Council imposes Fines on six Oil Companies totalling € 200 000 000 On 21 December 2011, the Competition Council imposed fines on the oil companies SC OMV Petrom SA, SC OMV Petrom Marketing SRL, SC Lukoil România SRL, SC Downstream SRL, SC Mol Products SRL, SC ENI Romania SRL for anti-competitive agreements. The companies involved were found to have exchanged information about their future conduct on the market and to have entered into an agreement to stop the retail of the gasoline Eco Premium, and thereby infringed both the national competition law and Articles 101 TFEU.

“The Competition Law forbids any agreement that has as its object or as its effect the restriction, prevention or distortion of competition. We do not contest the company’s right to adjust its supply, but this must be done independently, not through an agreement with other companies. Irrespective of their size, all companies must comply with competition rules which are the same both in Romania and in other European countries” states Mr. Bogdan Chiritoiu, President of the Competition Council. The investigation was opened due to suspicions of an alleged infringement of Article 5(1)ofthe Competition Law and Article 101(1) TFEU, limiting the production, distribution, technical development and investments of a certain type of gasoline (Eco Premium). In 2009, the Competition Council carried out dawn raids at the premises of the main oil companies in Romania. In 2010, the Competition Council decided to extend the investigation to analyze the existence of a possible infringement of EU competition rules, respectively of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU.

The Competition Council’s decision shall be published on the institution’s website and may be appealed before the Court of Appeal (the Litigation Division) within 30 days from being notified to the parties. See press release (in English)

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