The Competition Council of Latvia (the CC) has concluded the negotiations procedure with SIA “Jēkabpils ūdens”, a capital company of Jēkabpils local government, finishing investigation on the infringement of competition neutrality in activities of SIA “Jēkabpils ūdens”. As a result of the negotiations, SIA “Jēkabpils ūdens” has taken into consideration recommendations of the CC and has eliminated the alleged infringements of competition neutrality, which arose from the initial draft agreement.
During the sector inquiry carried out by the CC, it was detected that actions implemented by the capital company of Jēkabpils city local government, SIA “Jēkabpils ūdens”, result in operation of private sanitation service providers on the market being restricted. In order to eliminate the potential risk of infringement of competition neutrality, the CC initiated negotiations with the capital company of the local government. Already during the investigation by the CC, SIA “Jēkabpils ūdens” eliminated separate alleged infringements, revising the waste water acceptance prices, as well as changing the operation practice and offering the possibility for private merchants to conclude an agreement on acceptance of waste water collected also outside the city borders.
The CC concludes that the conducted negotiations resulted in ensuring compliance with the Competition Law, as SIA “Jēkabpils ūdens” has eliminated the alleged infringements of competition neutrality by specifying the draft agreement, and also has made it publicly available to all interested providers of sanitation services by publishing it on the website of SIA “Jēkabpils ūdens”. Consequently, the investigation shall be terminated without deciding on detection of an infringement or imposition of the legal obligation and a fine.