Competition Council: Unannounced inspections of Enel group companies for possible abuse of dominant position

The Competition Council has carried out unannounced inspections at Enel Romania SA, the electricity distribution operators within the group and the electricity supply companies that are members of the group, as part of investigations into possible abuses of dominant position.

The Competition authority has indications that E-Distributie Muntenia SA, E-Distributie Banat SA and E-Distributie Dobrogea SA, through a series of actions, limit competition on the market by favouring their own electricity suppliers, Enel Energie SA and Enel Energie Muntenia SA, to the detriment of other retail suppliers and consumers.

"We constantly monitor the activity of companies in a dominant position, which have a special responsibility for their behaviour in their relations with partners, precisely because they enjoy a special market position. We are interested in the behaviour of companies in the energy sector, especially given that, in recent years, the Romanian state has adopted measures to open up the markets to competition in this sector. We will intervene and penalise any attempt to distort the liberalisation process, in the interest of the dominant company or of some companies within the group, as it affects consumers' interests," said Bogdan Chiritoiu, president of the Competition Council.

The inspections were carried out at the headquarters and some of the companies' workstations in Bucharest, Constanta and Timisoara, and the documents are being analysed by the Romanian competition authority as part of specific procedures.

The unannounced inspections are authorised by the Bucharest Court of Appeal and are justified by the need to obtain all the information and documents necessary to clarify the possible anti-competitive practices analysed. Their conduct does not represent a preliminary ruling as to the guilt of the companies, the Competition Council stresses.