Slovenia’s Public Agency for the Protection of Competition (AVK) has officially initiated proceedings against nine major technology suppliers and IT companies over alleged anti-competitive practices in public procurement.
The investigation targets regional subsidiaries of prominent multinational hardware manufacturers, including Acer Europe, EMC Computer Systems Austria, HP Computing and Printing, and Lenovo Technology, alongside several local IT service providers: Acord-92, Actual IT, Gambit Trade, Lancom, and SRC.
According to the regulator’s ex officio decision, the companies are suspected of entering into prohibited restrictive agreements or engaging in concerted practices that violate both Article 5 of Slovenia’s Act on the Prevention of Restrictions of Competition (ZPOmK-2) and Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
The alleged infractions involve procedures for awarding public contracts for the supply of personal computers, laptops, and related peripheral equipment across Slovenia. Preliminary findings suggest that the involved parties submitted tailored bids to divide public contracts among themselves, fix prices, and eliminate effective competition. The suspect conduct reportedly dates back to June 2019, with different companies participating at varying times and across different public tenders.
As part of the ongoing inquiry, the AVK has issued an open call for information from the public and industry participants. To ensure procedural integrity, the agency has outlined guidelines for submitting evidence, allowing parties to designate sensitive information as business secrets or request complete identity protection to prevent commercial retaliation or harm.
The AVK emphasized that the formal opening of proceedings does not represent a final determination on the existence of a antitrust violation, but rather signals the start of an in-depth evidentiary phase.