The Competition Council has sanctioned the companies "Floarea Soarelui" SA and "Lux Proba Grup" SRL with fines totaling 192.6 million lei, following an investigation that uncovered an anti-competitive agreement between the two companies, IPN reports.

The oil producer "Floarea Soarelui" SA, together with its main distributor "Lux Proba Grup" SRL, were found guilty of coordinating prices on the market between October 2019 and June 2022.

The investigation, which started in 2022, revealed that the two companies had aligned their prices before communicating them to customers. "Lux Proba Grup" SRL asked "Floarea Soarelui" SA to adjust the prices for commercial networks, while the producer requested information about the distributor's tariffs in order to synchronize its own prices.

The price coordination had negative effects not only on intra-brand competition (for "Floarea Soarelui" products), but also on inter-brand competition, affecting the own brands of other companies producing oil at the "Floarea Soarelui" factory.

"It is essential that all market participants respect the rules of fair competition. Close cooperative relations between producers and distributors cannot justify practices that have the object or effect of restricting competition on the market, thereby reducing the benefits of competition for consumers," said the president of the Competition Council, Alexei Ghertescu.

The two companies have 30 working days to challenge the decision in court. If the ruling becomes final, the money collected will go into the state budget.