On Tuesday 25 September, the European Commission sent a preliminary opinion to the Slovakian railway undertaking ZSSK, notifying it that the Commission considers it obstructed an inspection by providing incorrect or incomplete information in the framework of an investigation carried out by the institution into anti-competitive practices.
The Commission's inspections date back to June 2016, when the Commission had reason to believe that ZSSK may have entered into anti-competitive agreements in order to remove certain passenger transport competitors from the market, in breach of EU rules on anti-competitive practices.
The Commission suspects that ZSSK obstructed an inspection by submitting incorrect information concerning the location of a laptop of one of its employees and failing to provide the required information from that laptop by allowing its reinstallation, thereby irrevocably losing the data stored on it.
The Commission also suspects that the company breached the obligation to comply with the inspectors under Regulation 1/2003.
For all of these reasons, therefore, the institution has sent ZSSK a statement of objections. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)