By Angelos Anastasiou
The Cyprus Competition Commission (EPA) has imposed fines of €27.7 million this year, compared with €2.1 million in 2014, chairwoman Loukia Christodoulou told the House finance committee on Tuesday.
However, Christodoulou noted, thus far some companies have agreed to a repayment schedule, while others have appealed EPA’s rulings at the Supreme Court.
Specifically, she said, the fines imposed relate to violations of the law on car spare part purchases, subscription TV, and abuse of market dominance on under-water cables, and parking spaces at airports.
Asked whether these fines have been paid, Christodoulou said that Hermes Airports has agreed to repay its fine in three equal instalments – the first of which, for €250,000, has already been paid – while the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority is also repaying its fine, albeit it has to deal with restrictions due to the fact that it is a public organisation with a predefined budget.
Meanwhile, she added, the Cyprus Import Corporation (importers of Mercedes cars) has appealed EPA’s ruling.
A commission representative noted that unpaid fines are considered a civil liability, and such cases are referred to the Legal Service.
With regard to ongoing cases, Christodoulou said possible offences are being investigated in telecommunications, tampering with public tenders procedures, and cow’s milk, while EPA is also conducting oral hearings on five other cases.
With regard to the probe into fixing fuel prices, which had culminated in a massive €42 million fine imposed on four oil companies in 2010 only to be overturned a year later by the Supreme Court on a technicality, Christodoulou said investigation has been launched on the entire fuel sector, in connection with importing, transport, storage, wholesale, and retail trade of oil.
“We have done a tremendous amount of work, and thousands of pages have been received in response to EPA queries, both by gas-station owners and the oil companies,” she said.
“We are going through them, but we are just 11 people.”
However, she added, the watchdog is in the process of concluding re-evaluation of the 2010 fine.
Speaking after the finance committee session, acting chairman Angelos Votsis said a formula must be devised to return the “stolen money” to the people.
He noted that discussion has started on how to return the money raised by fines imposed on various companies.
“One way is to subsidise the price of milk, or the return of fuel taxes,” he said.
EPA’s budgeted operating cost for 2016 is €1.6 million, an increase of 7.28 per cent on 2015 due to the approval of hiring three additional permanent officers.
