On 17 September 2020 the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) announced that it had fined six manufacturers of wooden railway sleepers (ie, wooden beams that support the rails) more than Zl13.5 million (approximately €3 million) for bid rigging.
The UOKiK found that Kolejowe Zaklady Nawierzchniowe (KZN) Biezanów, together with its subsidiaries Trade-Port and Sleeper Treatment Plant in Czeremcha, as well as ThyssenKrupp GFT Polska, Track Tec and Sleeper Treatment Plant in Kozmin Wielkopolski, breached competition rules.
The UOKiK discovered that all of the firms had taken part in a tender organised in 2014 and 2015 by PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe (the Polish railway infrastructure manager) for the supply of railway sleepers.
The UOKiK found that the companies were the only ones in Poland which could have supplied this product to PKP.
The UOKiK stated that the anti-competitive agreements were initiated by Track Tec and KZN Biezanów, which later persuaded other businesses to participate.
According to the release, the tender was divided into two tasks and the companies agreed that ThyssenKrupp and KZN Biezanów would form a consortium and together with Track Tec would bid for both tasks, while the remaining firms would not participate in the tender.
However, the agreement was not implemented as PKP cancelled the tender when it suspected bid rigging.
The UOKiK imposed the following fines:
- Zl7.58 million (approximately €1.7 million) on Track Tec (Warsaw);
- Zl2.95 million (approximately €660,000) on KZN Biezanów;
- Zl1.54 million (approximately €340,000) on Sleeper Treatment Plant in Czeremcha;
- Zl1.31 million (approximately €290,000) on Sleeper Treatment Plant in Kozmin Wielkopolski;
- Zl83,269 (approximately €18,600) on ThyssenKrupp GFT Polska; and
- Zl4,484 (approximately €1,000) on Trade-Port (Katowice).
