The prohibited agreement concerned the purchase of fruit in the Konin district (Greater Poland Voivodeship) in the years 2022-2024 – says the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in its latest announcement.
The office reported that the owners of fruit purchases in the Konin district participated in the price collusion: Fructis from Wierzbie (Greater Poland Voivodeship), Damex from Nowa Wieś (Greater Poland Voivodeship), Silver-Trans from Sompolno (Greater Poland Voivodeship), Kam Pol from Biała Rawska (Łódź Voivodeship) and Kalbrok from Sielice (Masovian Voivodeship). The purpose of the collusion was – as reported by the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Tomasz Chróstny – to set fruit purchase prices at the lowest possible level.
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection held the president of Fructis directly responsible for the operation of the collusion. During the search at the company's headquarters, information from the entrepreneurs' instant messengers was secured. According to the Office, they confirm that information regarding fruit rates was exchanged.
“It's sick to break through like this”
In its announcement, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection quoted sample messages:
“We have to come up with something, because it's sick to try to outdo ourselves like this (…) Like, let us know what we're doing, I can compete on prices, but it's not healthy for all of us”, “Hey, what's the price of cherries and currants today? – Cherry 2.30 currant 2.20 net prices” (original spelling retained).
The collusion was to operate for three seasons in 2022-2024. The decision is not final and may be appealed to the court.
The maximum penalties for participating in a competition-restricting agreement are 10%. annual turnover for the company and PLN 2 million for managers. Penalties for participation in collusion can be avoided by cooperating as a “crown witness” with the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection and providing evidence or information regarding the existence of an prohibited agreement. The office also reminded that it runs a platform for obtaining information from anonymous whistleblowers.
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