HUNGARY
Authorities investigate possible plastic pipe cartel / Inspect offices of Wavin, Pipelife and Tessenderlo
Suspecting price fixing, Hungary’s competition authority Gazdasági Versenyhivatal (GVH, www.gvh.hu) has searched the offices of several plastic pipe manufacturers. On 16 December 2011, the authorities showed up unannounced at the Hungarian subsidiaries of Wavin (Zwolle / The Netherlands; www.wavin.com) and Pipelife (Wiener Neudorf / Austria; www.pipelife.com) as well as the premises of local producer BTH Fitting (Vadna / Hungary). The latter had recently been acquired by Tessenderlo (Brussels / Belgium; www.tessenderlo.com) as part of the Belgium company’s takeover of BT Bautechnik – see Plasteurope.com of 13.09.2011.
The authorities are investigating whether the pipe producers engaged in price fixing in 2006, when and by how much they lifted prices and whether they divvied up regional markets among themselves in an effort not to compete with each other. GVH said the inquiry should be completed within the next six months, but cautioned that if the matter turns out to be more complex, the investigation could be extended by another six months.
The authorities are investigating whether the pipe producers engaged in price fixing in 2006, when and by how much they lifted prices and whether they divvied up regional markets among themselves in an effort not to compete with each other. GVH said the inquiry should be completed within the next six months, but cautioned that if the matter turns out to be more complex, the investigation could be extended by another six months.
20.01.2012 Plasteurope.com [221320-0]
Published on 20.01.2012
German version of this article...