Austrian timber companies fined in Romania for unfair competition

Romania’s Competition Council fined 31 timber producers on the local market for anti-competitive arrangements in the auctions organized during 2011-2016 by the state forest management company Romsilva.

The competition body found that 33 companies, out of the 96 investigated, participated in such arrangements, but two were already closed. These companies agreed not to compete against each other in tenders for wood exploitation to keep prices as low as possible.

The Competition Council decided total fines worth RON 130 million (€ 26.6 mln) for the 31 companies.

The highest sanctions target the local subsidiaries of Austrian groups Holzindustrie Schweighoffer (HS) – RON 51.7 mln (€ 10.6 mln), Kronospan – RON 46.4 mln (€ 9.5 mln), and Egger – RON 22.6 mln (€ 4.64 mln). These three groups are also the biggest players in the local timber industry, which explains the high level of the fines against them, as competition fines are usually a percentage of the turnover.

Some 13 companies, including the three Austrian groups’ subsidiaries, admitted to violating competition law and benefited from reductions in fines.