J. Sroczyński for WuW No. 12/2000 – Financial penalties imposed by the OCCP on Orlen S.A. and TP S.A.
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (OCCP) has issued a decision prohibiting the dominant oil producer, Orlen S.A., to apply predatory pricing practicies on the market of motor vehicle radiator fluids. The OCCP has held that Orlen S.A. abused its dominant market position, holding the price for glycol (a petrochemical by-product which constitutes a main component of radiator fluids) below production costs, in order to eliminate its actual competitors and to discourage potential competitors from entering the Polish radiator fluid market. In addition, the OCCP claimed that the practices applied by Orlen S.A. have resulated in significant profits for that company over the last three years. The undue benefits of Orlen S.A. have appeared as a natural consequence of preventing competitors from entering and operating on the radiator fluids market. This was one of the reasons why the OCCP has imposed a significant fine on Orlen S.A., amounting to 40 milion zlotys (approximately EURO 10 million). The fine is the highest so far imposed by the OCCP on an undertaking abusing the rules of competition. Orlen S.A. has filed an appeal against the OCCP’s decision to the Antimonopoly Court.
The OCCP has also imposed a fine amounting to approximately EURO 110,000 on the national telecom operator, TP S.A., for the imposition on SM-Media, an Internet services provider, of onerous contract terms. The OCCP has found that TP S.A. intentionally prolonged and impeded negotiations with SM-Media, related to SM-Media’s project of establishing an access telephone number to the Internet via TP S.A.’s network. The OCCP has held that TP S.A., which dominates the telecom market in Poland, abused its position through illegal refusal to deal with SM-Media. The OCCP’s decision is not final; TP S.A. has lodged an appeal to the Antimonopoly Court.
J. Sroczyński, Wirtschaft und Wettbewerb. Developments in national competition law, No. 12/2000.
