The European Commission has confirmed, on a preliminary basis, the complaint prepared by KŠB that there was an abuse of dominant position on the railway transport market in the Czech Republic
On 30 October 2020, the European Commission publicly announced that it had sent a Statement of Objections to České dráhy, a.s. The European Commission concluded, on a preliminary basis, that České dráhy, a.s. abused its dominant position by below-cost (predatory) pricing in the period from 2011 to 2019. The aim of this anticompetitive conduct was to harm its competitors, including LEO Express. European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said: “Competition in the rail passenger transport sector can drive prices down and service quality up to the benefit of consumers. It benefits the environment too as travelers shift to rail in line with the Green Deal objectives. In the present case, we have concerns that České dráhy was involved in predatory pricing which is against the EU competition rules.”
Based on a complaint prepared by the KŠB team, the European Commission began inspecting the Czech railway market as early as 2016 after carrying out inspections at the premises of České dráhy. The Statement of Objections is a procedural step that precedes the final decision of the European Commission. Thus, although it is not a formally final decision, it is common for the conclusions contained in it to correspond to those which are subsequently contained in the final decision of the European Commission.
The press release of the European Commission can be found here.
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