Latvia’s Road Transport Administration (ATD) submitted a proposal to the Competition Council (KP) to terminate contracts with passenger transport companies involved in cartel activities, as confirmed by ATD board chairman Kristiāns Godiņš at a press-conference held on Friday, the 24th of February.
ATD is prepared to terminate contracts with those companies if KP’s decision becomes final and not subject to appeal following a verdict of a court of law.
Termination of contracts with carriers would be possible if carriers agree with it, said Godiņš.
Godiņš said ATD has turned to Estonian and Lithuania carriers to see if they are interested in providing services in Latvia. Currently of the necessary 450 buses 39% of 176 buses can be provided by other Latvian carriers. When it comes to drivers, however, these carriers can provide only 13% of the necessary number.
At the same time, Godiņš hopes that if contracts with three carriers in question are terminated, their drivers may leave and start working for other carriers.
ATD previously reported that before a long-reaching plan is developed and published, it will be necessary to consult with KP and Procurement Monitoring Bureau (IUB) about existing contracts, as well as future contracts. ATD has also ordered an independent legal evaluation in regards to options for termination of procurement contracts with companies mentioned in KP’s decision ahead of term.
As previously reported, KP fined three regional passenger carriers a total of Eur 1975 million for a cartel agreement. These three companies are Liepājas autobusu parks JSC (LAP), Nordeka JSC and Latvijas sabiedriskais autobuss LLC. Liepājas autobusu parks JSC was fined EUR 862 000, Nordeka was fined EUR 637 000 and Latvijas sabiedriskais autobuss LLC was fined EUR 474 600.
More on this topic: Competition Council fines three public transport service providers for cartel operations