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Transportation cartel suspected

On 27 April 2010 the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) held dawn-raids without any preliminary notification at the headquarters of COLOR TOURS Tourist Agency and Transportation Kft., Kontakt-Busz Transportation Counseling and Services Kft., and T&J Busz Projekt Kft.

Based on the data available to the GVH, it is presumed that the undertakings under investigation previously colluded and agreed to harmonise their practices concerning their respective bids submitted to the invitation to the public procurement tender issued by Volánbusz Zrt. between 2007-2009 mainly for "scheduled public bus service subcontracting". The alleged agreements were extended to the prospective winners, to the prices included in the bids submitted to certain public procurements, and also to their behaviour to be followed in the course of the bidding processes.

The GVH also presumes that the practices mentioned above entailed higher service prices to be followed by the undertakings taking part in the collusion and consequently becoming winners in the given public procurement procedures.

The GVH suspects that the undertakings under investigation have violated the provisions of the prohibition of restrictive agreements both of the Hungarian and the European competition law, therefore the GVH is going to conduct a proceeding pursuant both to the Hungarian and the EU competition law.

The GVH may conduct on spot inspections without any preliminary notification based on the Competition Act. Pursuant to the provisions of the Competition Act, the inspections are subject to the attainment of a judicial authorisation in advance.

The initiation of the competition supervision proceeding does not mean that the undertakings in question have actually committed the infringement. The proceeding targets the clarification of the facts and thus to prove that the infringement assumed has been committed. According to the Act such proceedings must be closed within 6 months, however this time limit can be extended two times by further 6 months each, depending on the complexity of the case.

Case number: Vj-34/2010.

Budapest, 27 April 2010

Hungarian Competition Authority
Communication Team

Further information:
Jozsef SARAI
Hungarian Competition Authority
Address: 1054 Budapest, V., Alkotmány u.5.
Postal address: 1245 Budapest, 5. POB. 1036
Tel: +36-1-472-8933
email: sajto@gvh.hu
http://www.gvh.hu