The President of UOKiK fined Kreisel, the initiator of an illegal agreement in the construction market, with over PLN 240 thousand

The antitrust proceedings were instituted in July 2008. In their course, the President of UOKiK determined that Kreisel Technika Budowlana, a construction company, and enterprises selling consruction chemistry materials had made an unlawful agreement. The agreements were made between 2000 and 2008.

As it has been determined by UOKiK, the unlawful agreement was initiated by Kreisel from Poznań, a producer of mortars, plasters and glue. According to the evidence collected during the proceedings, in its trading agreements with wholesale purchasers, the company determined the price of resale of construction chemistry products. The participants of the agreement agreed not to introduce prices lower than the factory prices reduced by maximum 28%. Introducing lower prices required Kreisel’s prior written consent.

According to the President of UOKiK, the agreement meant in fact that a minimum retail price was established for all construction chemistry products offered on the market. Assesing Kreisel practices, the President of the Office took into consideration the fact that the company operates within an international capital group and should thsrefore possess appropriate legal and economic knowledge to recognise with graeter ease that certain practices were violating competition law and leading to specific consequences in the market.

Participants of an agreement aiming at or resulting in restricting competition may be punished with fines amounting to 10% of their preceding year’s revenue. The only mitigating circumstances in this case were that in course of the proceedings Kreisel ceased its unlawful practices and signed annexes to its agreements with distributors. The President of UOKiK fined Kreisel, the initiatior of the unlawful agreement, with PLN 248.6 thousand. In addition, having analysed the available evidence, the antitrust authority fined 25 distributors (out of 900 involved) with which Kreisel achieved the highest turover:
AB Bechcicki from Wrocław - PLN 6 771.44
AGRO-BUD from Ostrołęka - PLN 1 000
AGROMA-BUD from Szczecin - PLN 1 000
ATEST-POL from Łomża - PLN 1 000
BETOR Składy Budowlane from Toruń - PLN 2 514.07
BUMA P.M.S. Wielowscy from Sieradz - PLN 1 000
CHEMIK J.D. Krieger from Poznań - PLN 14 222.22
DAJANA Zakład Handlowo-Produkcyjny from Lubartów - PLN 1 000
ELGROM from Olsztyn - PLN 3 138.32
Firma Handlowa BOZ from Rzeszów - PLN 6 328.15
GLAZUR-ŁUCZAJ from Bielsko Podlaskie - PLN 1 000
JACK-BUD Firma Handlowo Usługowa from Izbica Kujawska - PLN 1 000
JASAM from Olsztyn - PLN 5 158. 27
KAMIR PHU from Białystok - PLN 1 398.54
KWARTET Firma Handlowo-Inwestycyjna from Kętrzyn - PLN 1 000
PHU CAMARO from Katowice - PLN 1 000
PHU HURTKOL from Lublin - PLN 1 000
POL-BUD from Zgierz - PLN 1 000
PPU MODUS from Pruszcz Gdański - PLN 1 000
PW MIWA from Gliwice - PLN 1 000
STUCCO-HANDEL from Nowy Sącz - PLN 1 000
Świętokrzyskie Centrum Farb i Lakierów from Kielce - PLN 1 000
V-BUD Walkiewicz from Wysogotowie - PLN 3 805.53
WEKTRA from Płock - PLN 4 256.58
ZACISZE from Warszawa - PLN 7 616.66

The decision is not final. The enterprises have the right to appeal to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection.

At the same time we would like to remind all the interested parties that since 1 January 2009 the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has been applying Guidelines on setting fines for competition-restricting practices. The aim of the Guidelines is to increase the transparency in respect to the methodology of setting antitrust sanctions. In the opinion of the Office, the explanations will help enterprises to find out what antitrust fines they may face for undertaking unlawful activities.

Additional information:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw, Poland
Tel. (+48 22) 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 430
faks (+48 22) 826 11 86
E-mail: mcieloch@uokik.gov.pl

UOKiK Branch Office in Poznań
ul. Zielona 8, 61-851 Poznań, Poland
Tel. (+48 61) 852 15 17, 852 77 50
faks (+48 61) 851 86 44
E-mail: poznan@uokik.gov.pl