As part of its clampdown on public procurement bid rigging, the Serbian Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) recently handed down a decision in a bid rigging infringement case, for the first time ever reducing the fine after establishing that the conditions in an application for leniency submitted during the course of the proceedings had been met.
An analysis of the facts of the case led the CPC to conclude that the infringement had been intentional, which it weighed against the fact that the company had given its full cooperation in the investigation.
The application for leniency was filed on the same day as the dawn raid was carried out, and provided the Commission with information that had not been available prior to the initiation of proceedings. This pertained to the company’s specific business model and the role of a particular individual within the company in colluding with the other party involved.
As a consequence of this, the fines of the two parties to the restrictive agreements differed by more than 50%,
It is worth pointing out that the CPC established that three different restrictive agreements had been concluded in connection with three separate public procurement exercises, but that these, in fact, represented a single and continuous infringement, once again applying this well-established doctrine under EU competition law.
This case underlines the importance for companies of conducting effective internal audits relating to their day-to-day business operations, especially with regards to dealings with suppliers and customers. Audits should be followed up with regular compliance training programmes in order to raise awareness of the importance of competition rules for all businesses, whatever their sector.