On Monday 30 October, the European Commission announced that it had opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether the co-operation and framework agreement between the public postal service provider Slovak Post and the mobile network operator SWAN complied with EU State aid rules.
The agreement was initially signed in 2015 and was implemented between 2015 and 2021.
In December 2016, the Commission received a complaint. The complainant believed that as a result of the agreement, SWAN had obtained an economic advantage, as the fees paid by SWAN for the provision of services to Slovak Post did not represent market prices.
Secondly, the complainant considered that Slovak Post’s selection of SWAN as a cooperation partner was not based on a transparent agreement or a non-discriminatory selection procedure.
The Commission’s investigation aims to verify, in particular, whether Slovak Post’s decision to enter into an agreement with SWAN could be attributable to Slovakia and whether the terms of the agreement gave SWAN an economic advantage. Finally, the Commission wants to ensure that the choice of SWAN as a partner is transparent and non-discriminatory. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)