The cartel fixing prices and sharing the cement market in Poland for 11 at least years was composed of seven companies. Today the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection (pl. SOKiK) sustained the decision by the President of UOKiK

The court judgement regards the decision by the President of UOKiK of 2009. The proceedings conducted by the Office revealed then that the leading Polish cement plants, starting from 1998, or earlier, had been sharing the market by fixing admissible shares of participants to such agreement, minimum cement prices, the value of price increase, deadlines and the sequence of introducing them.

According to the Office, practices of undertakings involved in the collusion could have negatively affected many entities for whom cement is a semi-finished product. In particular this concerned the construction industry, and consequently consumers. The participants to the cartel broken by UOKiK owned nearly 100 % of shares in production and sales market of grey cement in Poland. Their unlawful and long-lasting conduct resulted in the distortion of competition.

In the course of UOKiK’s proceedings, two cartelists decided to undertake cooperation with the Office under the leniency programme. They submitted clarifications which confirmed the evidence collected by the Office and significantly contributed to examining the case. For this reason the President of UOKiK refrained from imposing a fine on Lafarge Cement and decreased the fine for Górażdże Cement (fined with the equivalent of 5% of the company’s revenue).

The remaining five cartelists - Grupa Ożarów, Cemex Polska, Dyckerhoff Polska, Cementownie Warta and Odra – were punished with a possible maximum fine – 10 % of annual revenue gained in the year preceding the decision.

The court took the stance of the President of UOKiK and confirmed that the companies had entered into a prohibited agreement. On the other hand, the fines imposed on cartel participants were decreased to 339 millions PLN. The court judgement of 13^th December 2013 (XVII Ama 174;173;176;175;178;177/10) is not final as the undertakings may lodge an appeal.

Additional information for the media:

Additional information for the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Phone: +48 22 827 28 92, 55 60 314
Fax +48 22 826 11 86
E-mail: malgorzata.cieloch@uokik.gov.pl