May 26 (SeeNews) - Romania's anti-trust authority, the Competition Council, said that it fined three local dairy companies which are part of the French group Lactalis a total 14.3 million lei ($3.1 million/2.9 million euro).
The three companies were fined for refusing to provide access to information to the authority's inspectors during an investigation into possible price-fixing arrangements on the production and marketing of butter, the Competition Council said in a press release on Monday.
Dairy producer Albalact received the highest fine, of 9.9 million lei, followed by Covalact with 2.4 million lei and Dorna Lactate with 1.9 million lei.
Companies that refuse to cooperate with the Romanian competition regulator or hinder its investigations can be sanctioned by a fine of 0.5% to 10% of the total turnover in the previous financial year.
(1 euro=4.95735 lei)