A statement from the Cartel Office in Bonn, released today, said the raids were in connection with an investigation into a re-tendering process with the German packaging recycling organisation, Duales System Deutschland.
The Cartel Office was working with the Cologne district attorney and the support of the police in the investigation, involving about 300 officials altogether. The investigation was looking into possible anti-competitive behaviour regarding the green dot packaging recovery system and contracts worth a total of 2.5 billion.
DSD agreed with regulators in February 2003 to auction off contracts to increase competition in the recycling of packaging, since it had a 95% share of the market. About 400 contracts were offered in March 2003 for the recycling of light packaging including plastics and aluminium as well as glass, with a submission deadline of May. The contracts were scheduled to begin in January 2004.
However, in looking at the results of the bidding process, the German Cartel Office said that in about half of the contracts, similar bids came from a number of large waste management companies, and that the difference in offered prices was small. It was felt that had a number of other businesses put in bids, more competitive offers would have been delivered.
Ulf Bge, president of the Cartel Office said that should their suspicions be confirmed the investigation would lead to criminal proceedings against those concerned. Any businesses found to be involved in anti-competitive arrangements could expect fines, he said.
A statement issued by Dr Heike Schiffer at DSD in July 2003 noted that “the review process has shown that for a large number of tendering regions, both for glass and lightweight packaging, only one tender was submitted. A large number of submitted tenders were also not economically feasible.”
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