By: Dieter Hauck and Christian Kern
Introduction
On June 30 2016 a cartel fine based on a settlement (for further details please see "New settlement policy") amounting to €10.2 million was imposed on the Austrian grocery chain SPAR Österreichische Warenhandels-AG and its subsidiaries (collectively, 'SPAR') due to vertical price collusions in the food retail sector, which included 16 product divisions such as beer, flour and non-alcoholic beverages.(1)
Earlier in 2015, regarding dairy products, SPAR, after controversial searches of its premises in 2012 and a hard fought confrontation with the cartel authorities, refused a settlement and thus a record €30 million fine was imposed on the company by the Supreme Court, which increased the initial €3 million fine tenfold. In its reasoning, the Supreme Court also separated the Austrian system of fine calculation from longstanding European practice.(2)
In August 2016, Minister of Justice Wolfgang Brandstetter circulated a draft for an amendment to the Cartel Act 2005 for consultation. In addition to the implementation of the EU Damages Directive (2014/104/EC), which must be enacted by December 2016, the draft addresses other issues, as discussed below.
