AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

Healthcare: Antitrust, over 5.5 million in fines for competition-distorting agreement among 4 suppliers of magnetic resonance equipment

Sanctions for Alliance Medical S.r.l, Toshiba Medical Systems Italia S.r.l., Philips S.p.A. and Siemens S.p.A., who reached a mutual agreement to replace competitive tendering dynamics with a form of collusion to coordinate their involvement in an electro-medical equipment tender.

The Antitrust Authority met the competition-distorting agreement with a total of 5,538,750 euros for Alliance Medical S.r.l., Toshiba Medical Systems Italia S.r.l., Philips S.p.A. and Siemens S.p.A, firms that produce and sell electro-medical equipment used for diagnostic imaging.

The sanctioning measures conclude an inquiry process that started back when Ge Medical Systems Italia S.p.A lodged a complaint about these companies and an alleged agreement to coordinate participation in the tender that Società Regionale Sanità of Campania (SO.RE.SA) had announced for the provision (purchase and rental) of seven magnetic resonance machines and related support services.

The Antitrust's reconstruction of the events identified a meeting during which the companies initialled a joint agreement that defined their participation in the SO.RE.SA. tender with the view to dividing the provision into pro-quota shares. Siemens and Alliance participated in a Temporary Association of Enterprises for the direct provision of three machines for purchase, while Philips and Toshiba were sub-contracted by Alliance to provide the remaining four machines for rental.

According to the Antitrust Authority, the exchange of sensitive information and the reaching of an agreement altered the normal competitive dynamics among businesses involved in the tender so that the commercial strategies that employed were no longer independent.

By virtue of the agreement, in fact, Toshiba and Philips renounced the opportunity to participate directly in the tender while Siemens and Alliance constituted a Temporary Association of Enterprises based on the knowledge of their competitors' commercial strategies.

The four sanctioned companies together account for approximately 68% of national sales.

The fines were distributed as follows:

Rome - 5 August 2011