The European Commission fined Deutsche Post AG, the
fast-growing German postal service and logistics group, 50,000 euro ($50,500) for
supplying misleading information in competition procedures.
The fine, the maximum permitted under the European merger regulation of 1989, is
related to EC procedures for the proposed takeover by Deutsche Post of the German courier
operator trans-o-flex GmbH.
Deutsche Post notified the EC in February 1999 of its intention to acquire
sole control over the German company. The EC said that, in the course of this
investigation, "it became apparent that Deutsche Post had deliberately supplied
incorrect and misleading information to deceive the Commission about its
jurisdiction." Deutsche Post withheld information relevant in this context, the
Brussels agency said.
Deutsche Post withdrew this notification some weeks after the EC opened an
in-depth investigation.
The EC said that Deutsche Post’s intentional supply of incorrect and
misleading information in its notification and incorrect information in replying to
information requests constitutes "a serious infringement of two provisions of the
Merger Regulation, which call for the imposition of two fines."
A spokesman for Deutsche Post said that the company’s legal department is
checking the case to establish how to react to the EC fine.
Meanwhile, the German antitrust agency Bundeskartellamt has also launched an
investigation in the matter.
EC FINES DEUTSCHE POST 50,000 EURO FOR GIVING WRONG INFORMATION
EC FINES DEUTSCHE POST 50,000 EURO FOR GIVING WRONG INFORMATION
