Restriction of free competition to be penal punishable in Moldova

Chisinau, 20 June /MOLDPRES/ – The restriction of competition throughout conclusion of an anti-competitive agreement prohibited by competition law will be punished by a fine of 1,000 – 2,000 conventional units or imprisonment for up to 3 years, according to a draft amendment to the Criminal Code approved by the Government today.

The anticompetitive agreement prohibited by legislation is considered by project authors to fix the sale prices of products to third parties, restrict production or sales, divide markets or customers or participate in falsified offers in auctions or other forms of competitive bidding, if it was achieved a particularly high profit or it was caused a particularly large amount of damage to a third party.

The person is free from criminal liability if being granted leniency under competition law. According to provisions of article 84 of Competition Law, leniency is reward granted by Competition Council for cooperation of undertakings and associations of undertakings with Competition Council, if they are or were part of an anti-competitive agreement. Thus, undertakings and associations of undertakings may obtain immunity from fines or reduction of their amount if they meet terms laid down by Competition Law.

The draft also provides for person to be released from criminal liability if actively contributing to discovery or counteraction of offence by self – denunciation, denunciation and facilitating the criminal prosecution of other persons which have committed or contributed to committing the offence.

The draft law is to be submitted to Parliament for consideration and adoption.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor A. Raileanu)