The European Commission fined Eurofield and its parent company Unanime Sport for submitting an incomplete reply to a request for information (RFI) by decision in the context of an antitrust investigation in the synthetic turf sector.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫?
Fines for incomplete responses can be imposed in all antitrust proceedings as well as in proceedings under the merger regulation, the digital markets act and the foreign subsidies regulation. Competition authorities of all EU Member States have the same power pursuant to the ECN+ Directive.

Notwithstanding this, it is the first time that the Commission has fined a company for providing incomplete information in an antitrust investigation. So far, the Commission has fined companies only for having supplied incorrect or misleading information, and this in the context of merger control proceedings, most recently in Merck/Sigma-Aldrich.

𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫?
The decision confirms that procedural fines are not limited to intentional infringements. The incomplete response appears to have been unintentional, yet negligent, because hiding the documents made no sense: the Commission already knew about them from the dawn raid at Eurofield and from Eurofield’s reply to the RFI by decision.

Eurofield’s defence that the omissions were the result of human error, was rejected. The Commission had given various opportunities to Eurofield to remedy the issue: Eurofield had been warned that its earlier reply was incomplete, had been told that the RFI covered text messages and e-mails, and had not sought clarification despite repeated offers from the Commission to discuss any uncertainties.

The Commission’s message is clear: better safe than sorry! Companies must exercise the utmost diligence when responding to RFIs to ensure that it is correct, complete and submitted on time. In case of questions or doubts, companies should reach out to the Commission.

🔗 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨? You can read the Commission’s decision here: https://lnkd.in/ecBtCiG5.

💬 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬? Feel free to reach out to our competition team or your usual contact person at 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭!

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