The Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic (PMÚ) has issued its first-ever decision concerning a cartel agreement in the labour market. The Slovak Association of the Fuel Industry and Trade was fined €10,000 for adopting an “Ethical Code” that required its members not to hire each other’s employees.
The collusive arrangement took the form of a decision by an association of undertakings, which means the PMÚ did not assess the conduct of individual members, but rather addressed the association’s collective action.
Non-solicitation agreements of this kind involve companies agreeing not to compete for workers, which undermines the competitive process in the labour market. Such practices result in inefficient use of human resources, reduced competition, lower wages, and potentially worse working conditions for employees. In the long term, they may also diminish the quality and variety of goods and services offered by the companies involved, to the detriment of consumers.
Given that this was the PMÚ’s first decision in this area, the fine was symbolic in amount. However, the authority emphasized that the goal is to send a strong signal to businesses that such practices are unlawful and will not be tolerated.
The decision, issued on June 24, 2025, is a first-instance ruling. The fined party has the right to appeal within the legally prescribed timeframe.
In its announcement, the PMÚ also reminded businesses of the possibility to benefit from its leniency programme. Under this programme, a participant in an anti-competitive agreement may avoid a fine entirely if it is the first to submit evidence of the infringement. Alternatively, if a company provides additional valuable evidence to support the investigation, the fine may be reduced by up to half. Another option is settlement, where a company admits to its participation in the infringement and accepts responsibility, even without submitting new evidence. In such cases, the PMÚ may reduce the fine by up to 50 percent in vertical agreement cases or up to 30 percent in cartel and abuse of dominance cases.
