Slovak rail incumbent ZSSK gave European Commission inspection incorrect information
Staff Writer |
The European Commission (EC) has informed Slovak rail company ZSSK of its preliminary view that the company obstructed a Commission inspection by giving and deleting data from a laptop.
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The inspection was part of an antitrust inquiry in the incorrect information rail passenger transport sector.
The Commission carried out inspections at the ZSSK premises in June 2016. The Commission suspected that ZSSK may have entered into anti-competitive agreements aimed at shutting out competing rail passenger transport operators from the market, in breach of EU antitrust rules (Articles 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union).
The purpose of the ongoing inquiry is to verify whether these concerns have any merits and need to be followed up.
The power to carry out inspections is one of the Commission's most important investigative tools to detect infringements of the antitrust rules.
During an inspection, inspectors are empowered – among other things – to examine and take copies of documents related to the business, irrespective of the medium on which they are stored. The companies must provide full support to the Commission's inspectors.
EU rules governing antitrust investigations require companies under investigation to submit to the inspection. Failure to do so can lead to the imposition of fines of up to 1% of their annual total turnover.
At this stage, the Commission has concerns that ZSSK may have obstructed the inspection in the following ways:
- It may have provided incorrect information on the location of the laptop of one of its employees.
- It may have failed to provide requested data from this laptop by allowing its re-installation, which led to an irrecoverable loss of the stored data.
The Commission takes the preliminary view that by this behaviour ZSSK may have infringed its obligation to comply with the inspectors under the antitrust Regulation 1/2003.
Sending a Statement of Objections does not prejudge the final outcome of the procedure. ■