The WhatsApp conversations of some employees responsible for sales were the main evidence that the Competition Council imposed fines of 123 million lei on Samsung, eMag, Flanco and Altex for fixing the prices of TVs and mobile phones. “The investigation confirmed a vertical agreement whereby the manufacturing company’s policy was not to lower the prices of its products below a certain price,” Daniela Badila, director general of the Competition Council, said on Tuesday.

According to her, it all started with an anonymous message on the contest’s whistleblower platform almost 2 years ago.

• “What we were told through the platform and the available documents gave us enough evidence to start an investigation. Spot checks were conducted and data collected from 4 companies. As a novelty, the evidence here consisted mainly of WhatsApp conversations, as mobile phones were also checked.
• We did not detect horizontal collusion between the 3 traders, but vertical collusion between the manufacturer and the 3 traders was confirmed. The deal is aimed at a bigger stake in the television industry,” Daniela Badile, director general of the Competition Council, said on Tuesday.

She said that in this deal “the people responsible for the sale were involved.”

• “The employee, even if he does not have decision-making functions, if he participates in such agreements, the company is responsible,” the director of the Competition Council warned.

Chiritsou: The agreement was “not to give discounts greater than…”

The President of the Competition Council, Bohdan Chiritsoyu, said that all 4 sanctioned companies admitted their anti-competitive actions and benefited from the reduction of fines.

• “The understanding was ‘don’t discount more than…’ And then it’s hard to gauge the impact.” Discounts were applied to acknowledge the facts,” Bohdan Chiritsoyu said.

Daniela Badila, director general of the Competition Council, explained that the fines depend on the turnover, at which they start from a base level, at which discounts are applied if the company admits to the act, and then mitigating circumstances are also applied.

“The discount for the recognition of the act is 30%, if it occurs within a certain period from the moment the investigation began. All 4 companies admitted to the crime,” said Daniela Badila.

What fines were received by 4 companies and for what violations

The Competition Council announced on Thursday that it had imposed sanctions of 123 million lei on SEROM (Samsung Electronics Romania), Dante International SA (eMAG), Altex Romania SRL and Flanco Retail SA “for participating in an anti-competitive agreement in the market for the sale of televisions and of mobile phones during 2019-2021”.

Fines were applied as follows:

• SERUM – 75,441,655 lei
• Dante International – 20,311,427 lei
• Altex Romania – 21,376,113 lei
• Flanco Retail – 6,223,580 lei

The anti-competitive agreement consisted of fixing the resale prices of certain products of SEROM and each of its trading partners, namely Altex, Dante and Flanco, which resulted in the restriction of the ability of the three retailers to independently set their resale prices. .

As a result, competition at the retail level was limited, affecting consumers who paid higher prices for certain types of televisions and mobile phones. Televisions and mobile phones are among the most important electronic and communication products

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