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Romania is considering confiscating the revenues made by the petrol stations by price gouging and issuing fines of between 2,000 and 100,000 lei, National Consumer Protection Authority (ANPC) Chairman Horia Constantinescu announced on Thursday.
"We are considering penalising an incorrect commercial practice and issuing decisions for each of the petrol stations following it. We are looking at whether or not some of the stations hike prices just because the others did the same. In my profane opinion, we could talk about a structure or a cartel-type initiative, because there is no justification in following suit if the neighbour increases the price only for you to draw extra profit. If that is confirmed, we will be considering, together with our colleagues from ANAF [National Tax Administration Agency], the confiscation of the revenues from price gouging and sending the money to the national budget. I think that this additional penalty is harsher than that of handing a fine of between 2,000 and 100,000 lei, which we will certainly apply if we find violations to absolutely all the stations we check," Constantinescu said at the end of a check of one of the petrol stations involved in price gouging.
He said he is of the opinion that the people who bought very large quantities of fuel boosted such a questionable practice by which the petrol stations unreasonably increased their prices.
He also pointed out that there was no justification for raising prices given the existence of fuel stockpiles.
ANAF, ANPC and the Competition Council have launched investigations into the fuel market to check the reason why the diesel fuel and petrol prices spiked in just a few hours on Wednesday, March 9.
On Thursday morning in Bucharest, fuels were selling for between 7.43 and 9.59 lei a litre, after drivers on Wednesday evening took petrol stations by storm, afraid that the fuel prices will surge to 10 lei per litre overnight, as rumoured in the public space.
Footages of drivers buying fuel by bags, barrels and other sorts of containers popped up on social media.
The energy minister on Wednesday evening had several posts on Facebook in which he urged Romanians to calm down, saying that there are enough stockpiles and the prices have no reason to increase.
The Competition Council also considers that the anticipation of a certain price that should be charged by a company and its announcement on the market may be subject to the provisions of the Competition Law.
Companies shall independently establish their pricing policy, depending on their own strategy and the structure of the costs involved in carrying out their business, with agreements and/or concerted actions of market behaviour being penalised by the relevant legislation.
