Baxi Romania and 50 distributors were received a total fine of 990,027 RON (about 220,006 euros) for cartel agreement in the distribution market for individual heating units and accessories for them, announces the Competition Council (CC).

The sanctions were imposed during the investigation about resale price fixing and restricting competition between dealers by limiting the exercise of marketing. The competition authority found that in contracts concluded during 2006 -2014 between Baxi Romania and distributors were laid clauses that established the resale prices of the products and restricted trade and free exercise of competition between distributors.

Basically, distributors were required to comply with the recommended price strategy, to implement them throughout their network of stores – if they had sub-distributors. Also, those contracts contained restrictive clauses regarding participation in tenders: if more trading partners requested offers from Baxi, only one of the distributors, that first applicant, received a competitive price. Subsequently, Baxi required documentation of each delivery with a copy of the contract between the distributor and end customer and a copy of the invoice. 18 distribution companies admitted anticompetitive acts and benefited from reduced fines with 20% of the base.

“Our goal is not to eliminate companies from the market and, therefore, when determining sanctions we took into account that distributors of Baxi products have turnovers that are quite small. Through this investigation and fines, our intention is to signal that all companies, whether large or small, need to understand that they must comply with competition law and establish their own resale prices, not by an agreement with the supplier”, said Bogdan Chiriţoiu, President of the Competition Council.