European Commission Accuses ZSSK of Obstruction during Inspection
Brussels/Bratislava, September 25 (TASR) – The European Commission (EC) in its preliminary view has accused the passenger rail carrier ZSSK Slovensko of preventing the EU authority from inspecting it in 2016, europa.eu website reported on Tuesday.
The EC has sent a statement of objections to ZSSK claiming that the rail carrier provided the EU body with incorrect information and erased data from a laptop.
“Companies have the obligation to provide correct information when we investigate and also during inspections. They should not alter the requested data in any way. Such behaviour would threaten the integrity and effectiveness of our investigations. We want to make sure that companies comply with our rules,” stated EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of competition policy.
The inspection at ZSSK was part of an antitrust inquiry in the rail passenger transport sector. According to the EC press release, the inspection was carried out in June 2016. The Commission suspected that ZSSK may have concluded anti-competitive agreements aimed at shutting out competing rail passenger transport operators from the market, which is in breach of EU antitrust rules.
