Between May and December 2012, the Moldova Competition Council has examined a case of infringement of competition law on the market „services for rail freight” by the S.E. „Railways of Moldova” (Î.S. „Calea Ferată din Moldova”). This has led to non-discriminatory treatment of all consumers with the purpose of increasing economic efficiency.
The S.E. „Railways of Moldova” applied discriminatory measures against some of its customers that placed them in an unfavourable situation compared to other undertakings from October 2011 to June 2012, by imposing the international tariff on some of them. While undertakings using rail freight services within the territorial boundaries of the Republic of Moldova had to pay the lower local rate, undertakings that had as one of the points of departure or arrival the Giurgiulesti International Free Port (hereinafter GIFP) – which also makes part of the Republic of Moldova and the other – and any other point of the territory of the Republic of Moldova had to pay the higher international rate.
Success story
This case was initiated following a notification by the Ministry of Economy, that identified a competition issue in the non-transparent application of SE „Railways of Moldova”’s pricing policy for the supplied services – a company with a dominant market position
Thus, given that the activity type of S.E. „Railways of Moldova” is the provision of rail passenger services, cargo, baggage and messengers, the relevant product market was defined as the provision of rail freight services. According to Art. 5 paragraph. (3) of the Railway Code No 30-XV from 17.07.2003, the S.E. „Railways of Moldova” operates throughout the country, including the territory of the GIFP. For this reason, the relevant geographic market was identified as national, determined by the geographical coverage of the S.E. „Railways of Moldova” infrastructure.
The S.E. „Railways of Moldova”, being the only undertaking to provide rail freight services in Moldova, was established as an undertaking with a dominant position in that market, holding a market share of 100%.
The relevance of the examined case stems from the fact that the different tariffs for rail freight services have a strong impact on the markets in which S.E. “Railways of Moldova’s” customers compete, because transport costs determine the final cost of goods and their price and have an influence on the competitive environment and the competitive capacity of the customers of S.E. „Railways of Moldova”.
"Promoting pro-competitive reforms that foster growth and reduce inequality”,OECD-GVH RCC Newsletter Issue No. 5, July 2015
