The Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic (AMO) has executed a series of unannounced, on-site inspections targeting several prominent entities operating within the domestic advertising and marketing sectors. Conducted between June 16 and June 19, 2026, these sudden regulatory interventions reflect an escalated administrative effort to scrutinize corporate behavior for potential antitrust non-compliance.
The antitrust authority initiated the sudden inspections on the basis of substantiated, reasonable suspicion regarding the existence of anticompetitive agreements among market participants. Regulators are operating under the preliminary premise that these entities may have entered into horizontal agreements. Because horizontal cartels involve direct market competitors collaborating to fix prices, divide territory, or restrict industry output, they represent one of the most egregious breaches of domestic and European Union competition laws. If the investigation uncovers definitive proof of an established cartel, the implicated undertakings face severe statutory penalties, including administrative fines of up to 10% of their total corporate turnover recorded during the preceding closed accounting period.
The AMO explicitly clarified that the deployment of unannounced dawn raids is a standard evidentiary procedure and does not constitute a formal finding of guilt or liability. The ongoing collection of data and digital evidence does not prejudge the eventual conclusions of the investigation, and the targeted marketing firms retain their full rights to defense as the regulatory review proceeds.
