Tommy fined 93,000 kuna

The Competition Protection Agency (AZTN) has imposed an administrative fine of 93,000 kuna on the retail chain Tommy from Split for failing to submit a concentration notification within the legal deadline, resulting from the successive acquisition of retail spaces from the entrepreneur Kerum, AZTN reported today.

The Agency determined that the obligation to notify the concentration for Tommy arose on May 10, 2010, when it acquired six Kerum stores in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County.

However, the concentration notification process only began at the initiative of the Agency after it initiated an investigation into their capital or personal connections based on information from the media.

The complete concentration notification was received by the Agency on November 16, 2012, meaning the violation lasted two and a half years.

AZTN explains that failing to notify a concentration constitutes a minor violation of competition regulations for which the Agency imposes an administrative fine of up to one percent of the total revenue achieved by the entrepreneur in the last year for which annual financial statements are available.

However, they add that when imposing this measure, the Agency takes into account all mitigating and aggravating circumstances, such as the severity of the violation, the duration of the violation, and the consequences for other entrepreneurs in the market and especially for consumers.

Thus, the Agency considered that the concentration did not lead to the creation or strengthening of a dominant position at the level of individual counties or the entire area of Croatia and that the concentration had a limited geographical effect, as it only covers the area of five counties.

Additionally, the Agency states that Tommy’s failure to notify was not aimed at disrupting competition in the relevant markets, and the entrepreneur cooperated with AZTN during the concentration assessment process.

However, since the concentration notification represents a legal obligation whose non-compliance cannot be justified by ignorance, the company Tommy was imposed an administrative penalty, and the Agency ‘believes that it will have a preventive effect on other entrepreneurs.’