The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection imposed a fine in proceedings against Gazprom and five international entities responsible for financing Nord Stream 2. Engie Energy will pay PLN172 mln for a lack of cooperation in the proceedings conducted by the president of the Polish antitrust office and not providing information.
The construction of Nord Stream 2 was analysed by UOKiK in August 2016. At that time, the President of the office decided that the planned concentration between Gazprom and five international companies could lead to a restriction of competition and made reservations, which in practice could mean no merger. However, the consortium participants withdrew their application.
Since April 2018, the Office has been analysing the case again, conducting precedent-setting antitrust proceedings. The President of UOKiK brought allegations against six companies suspected of finalizing the transaction despite the lack of consent from the Polish antitrust office. These are entrepreneurs belonging to international groups: Gazprom from the Russian Federation, Engie, as well as four companies from the Netherlands: Uniper, OMV, Shell and Wintershall.
According to the Office, the actions of consortium members may be an attempt to circumvent the regulations by establishing a company financing the construction of the gas pipeline without the consent of the antitrust authority. Both the withdrawn application regarding the creation of the joint venture and the conclusion of subsequent contracts had the same purpose: to finance the construction of Nord Stream 2. The decision concerns one of the six companies – Engie Energy.
“We asked the company for documents and data regarding contracts concluded with Gazprom. We are interested in information about gaseous fuels, in particular transmission, distribution, sales, supply or storage contracts. These data are necessary in the ongoing antitrust proceedings, in which we check whether Engie company and 5 other entities formed a joint undertaking without our consent”, explain Marek Niechciał President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.
“The company persistently and unreasonably refused to provide us with the requested documents and materials. This caused a significant delay in conducting our activities related to financing the construction of the NS2 gas pipeline”, explains Michał Holeksa, a vice-president of UOKiK.
For failing to provide information during the proceedings, the office may impose a fine of up to EUR 50 million on the entrepreneur. By exercising this right, the President of UOKiK imposed a penalty of EUR 40 mln.
