The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has closed a major cartel case involving the public procurement of garbage trucks and sewer cleaning vehicles. The investigation revealed that certain manufacturing companies coordinated their bids for several years, violating both Hungarian and European Union competition rules.
The GVH Competition Council imposed a total of 1,278.4 million Hungarian Forints (approximately €3.6 million) in fines on six of the seven companies involved. The largest fine of 972.9 million HUF (around €2.7 million) was imposed on Volvo Hungária Kereskedelmi és Szolgáltató Kft., which also received a record procedural fine of 270 million HUF (about €760,000) for obstructing access to data during the investigation. Seres Kft. was fined 264.6 million HUF (approximately €745,000), GIF Modul Kft. 31 million HUF (€87,000), Interteher Kft. 4.6 million HUF (€13,000), Eurotrade Kft. 3.3 million HUF (€9,000), and He Hans Eibinger Kft. 2.1 million HUF (€6,000).
The investigation found that in 2014–2015, several companies coordinated their participation in public procurement tenders within the Environment and Energy Operational Programme. Volvo Hungária, along with body manufacturers MUT Kft. and Seres Kft., negotiated in advance which companies would submit bids and which would act as suppliers, effectively eliminating competition among themselves. This collusion affected a total of 35 tenders, with additional violations identified in 15 other procurements involving four further companies.
MUT Kft., which cooperated fully during the investigation, paid 116 million HUF (around €327,000) directly to the contracting authorities as compensation, and no additional fine was imposed.
The GVH emphasised that cartels in public procurement are among the most serious competition violations, often resulting in higher prices and causing damage to both the contracting authorities and the state. The authority has consistently prioritised the investigation of such cartels, with several major cases concluded in recent years, including violations in the road transport, railway, and medical device sectors.