The fine for obstruction of on-site inspection of Beryko is confirmed
The fine was imposed for failure to cooperate during an on-site inspection which was conducted by the Office in the beginning of last year at the business premises of Beryko due to suspicions of anti-competitive practices within the distribution and sale of Xiaomi products in the Czech Republic. During the inspection, one of the company's executives refused to make available his mobile phone to the inspectors. The other executive handed over a mobile phone and a laptop for inspection, however the relevant data in these devices were deleted or changed. Furthermore, a large part of the content of the work email account of one of Beryko's employees was secretly deleted, and even after a request, backups of the work email accounts of Beryko's employees were not made available to the Office's inspectors.
On-site inspections at undertakings’ business premises is a key tool of the Office in detecting prohibited agreements, in particular cartel agreements. Throughout the on-site inspection, undertaking Beryko deliberately and intentionally took a number of steps to disrupt or significantly impede the Office's investigation, despite being repeatedly advised of the consequences of doing so.
When imposing the fine, the Office considered that the conduct was deliberately obstructive and motivated by the intention not to allow a proper inspection of the business records. Moreover, the seriousness of such behaviour was considerably increased by the fact that it was based directly on the instructions of the managing directors and shareholders of the undertaking concerned. The maximum amount of the fine for this type of offence can reach up to 1% of the offender's turnover, in this case it is close to the cap.
Press Unit of the Office
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