Brussels, 02/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission and the national competition authorities met as planned last Friday in order to exchange their points of view regarding the adequate policy to be carried out in the fuels sector. "The meeting has been a helpful means to exchange experiences and information between the competition authorities", said Commissioner Monti. "European consumers expect the network of national and Community competition authorities to follow current price developments closely. Today's meeting shows that the competition authorities will indeed intervene immediately in case there is evidence that market operators, through restricting competition, exploit the situation for their benefit", he stressed.
The main aim of the meeting was to discuss the possibilities for making the sector more competitive by effectively strengthening the existing anti-trust rules, both at Community and at national levels. The relevant national institutions pointed out that they were following developments in the sector with vigilance, intervening each time they suspected anti-competitive practices on the market. The Italian and Swedish authorities denounced, in particular, the existence of cartels accused of having directly or indirectly fixed retail or wholesale prices. The methods used were different but the aims the same such as that for controlling the profit margins of distributors while the latter must be free to fix their prices. The national authorities stressed, moreover, the difficulty of applying traditional antitrust rules for fixing prices in a parallel way in this sector. The participants also discussed the question of who, the Commission or the national authorities, was the most competent to act according to the cases envisaged. It appeared that the price cartels usually operate at national level and that, as a result, the national authorities were the most competent for carrying out inquiries at this level. The participants at the meeting considered that the new operators and independents are essential for maintaining and/or improving competitive pressure on European markets. The supermarkets in France and in the United Kingdom, for example, play a significant role at this level. Markets must, furthermore, remain open via non-discriminatory access to logistical infrastructures as well as to distribution networks. The Commission intends, in this connection, to investigate in greater detail regarding the competitive conditions in which the independent operators and the new operators evolve. Furthermore, it invited the Member States to adopt, in so far as the national legislation allows them to, effective measures in order to increase competitive pressure on the market by, for example, imposing the sale of assets or by facilitating the arrival of new competitors at the level of retail trade.
By way of conclusion, the Commission and the national authorities agreed to collaborate and to do everything possible in order to guarantee the protection of the European consumer in this sector. Mr Monti declared, as he closed the meeting: "If the Commission came across any evidence of anti-competitive practice within its sphere of competence, it would not hesitate to take immediate action and impose the appropriate sanctions".