Iveco Poland is an importer responsible for importing Iveco trucks to Poland, together with the distributors of the brand. The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) stated that Iveco Poland and 10 of the brand’s truck distributors participated in a cartel restricting competition on the truck market for nearly 10 years, involving market division and setting sales prices.
The collusion between Iveco and Iveco vehicle distributors consisted of an agreement to establish specific areas in which local distributors would have priority in client service. In this way, local distributor exclusively serviced clients from a specific area, and the sale of trucks, when the client from another location asked for an offer, was controlled in this way, so that the potential buyer would use the services of a local distributor. In addition, Iveco Poland had its own area, where, for certain period, it granted itself the exclusivity for the sale of certain models of trucks.
As part of the agreement, Iveco Poland offered dealers discounts and bonuses for sales results, which were dependent on compliance with the arrangements for market division, such as stopping selling trucks to clients in other areas. Dealers, which participate in collusion exchanged information about potential buyers, agreed which dealer would make an offer to client, while the others were instructed not to contact these clients or make competing offers and also made sure that their trading partners sold trucks only in designated areas.
The dealers also made pricing arrangements, including, in which they exchanged information on the prices of offers for customers in order to discourage clients from buying trucks from dealer other than the one specified in the agreements and to avoid price competition.
For participating in the cartel, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection imposed financial penalties amounted to over PLN 238 million on the participants, the largest was received by Iveco Poland – PLN 155.5 million, and the remaining – for 10 distributors, including Uni-Truck, CTC and Siltruck. In addition, a penalty of more than PLN 2.5 million was imposed on 10 company managers who are personally responsible for the competition law violation. The decision is not final and can be appealed, but 4 entrepreneurs and 4 managers decided to use the leniency program and cooperated with the President of the Office during the proceedings, thanks to which the President of the Office reduced the financial penalty imposed on these entities.
Olga Sztejnert-Roszak, IDI Country Expert for agency and distribution in Poland
