Taxi undertakings to pay competition fines for anticompetitive cooperation in mobility service procurement
Two taxi undertakings cooperated in an illegal way when presenting tenders in a procurement of mobility service transportation. The Swedish Competition Authority has decided that the undertakings are to pay competition fines of SEK 1,550,000 in total. The financial circumstances of the undertakings has meant that the fines were set at lower amounts than would be justified by the gravity of the violation.
It was in connection with a procurement for mobility transportation services conducted by the municipality of Ulricehamn, that the two taxi undertakings Taxi Beställningscentral i Ulricehamns kommun Aktiebolag and Väner Taxi AB cooperated on their tenders and pricing.
The Swedish Competition Authority initiated an investigation after a tip-off from the municipality, which was suspicious of collaboration between the two competing undertakings. There were clear similarities in the tenders that the undertakings had presented.
The Swedish Competition Authority’s investigation shows that the two undertakings were in direct contact, by e-mail and phone, with a common plan on how to act in the procurement, despite this being prohibited.
‘When competing undertakings choose to cooperate before bidding in a procurement, instead of competing for the contract, it is a serious violation of the competition rules. It puts competition out of play and risks leading to higher prices and worse conditions for the procuring authority’, says Rikard Jermsten, Director-General of the Swedish Competition Authority.
The mobility service contract that the municipality was procuring extended over four years, with a possibility of two years’ extension, and was supposed to enter into force on 1 September 2020. The municipality estimated the value of the contract at around SEK 7 million per year in total.
According to the decision of the Swedish Competition Authority, Taxi Beställningscentral i Ulricehamns kommun Aktiebolag is to pay a competition fine of SEK 300,000 whereas Väner Taxi AB is to pay a competition fine of SEK 1,250,000 kronor for participating in an anti-competitive collaboration.
This is a case of a serious violation of the competition rules that would justify even higher competition fines. However, in setting the fines, the Swedish Competition Authority has assessed the financial situation of both undertakings and conclude that their continued existence would be jeopardised if the competition fines were set higher.
For further information, contact:
Marie Strömberg Lindvall, Press Officer, +46(0)76 542 15 92, marie.stromberglindvall@kkv.se
Alexander Weidstam, Economic Counsel, +46(0)8 700 16 95, alexander.weidstam@kkv.se
Related link
Last updated: 2022-10-26
Press release20 october 2022