The European Commission announced on Thursday 21 May that it had informed companies in the synthetic turf sector of its preliminary view that they may have infringed EU antitrust rules by coordinating to distort competition on the market for synthetic turf for sports pitches in the Netherlands and Germany.
The Commission preliminarily fears that the Dutch companies Oranjewoud and TenCate Grass, as well as the Belgian company Sports & Leisure Group, have coordinated their commercial activities in order to restrict competition on the Dutch market since 2019, the year in which their recycling company in the Netherlands, GBN-AGR, was created.
In addition, these companies are suspected of having concluded another agreement aimed at sidelining providers of sustainable disposal services competing with GBN-AGR recycling services, thereby threatening its growth.
The statement of Objections also concerns Domo Sports Grass Nederland, a company resulting from the demerger of Sports & Leisure Group into an independent installation business in May 2025.
The Commission also has preliminary concerns about possible collusion between Oranjewoud and the Germany-based company Sport Group between 2020 and 2023 concerning recycling of synthetic turf for sport. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)