Waste cartel proceedings The Federal Competition Authority has granted the waste disposal company Saubermacher a Crown witness status Because the company cooperated with the BWB after the house searches as part of the leniency programme to fully clarify the facts of the case, the imposition of a reduced fine was Fine of EUR 7.085 million The BWB announced in a press release on Monday morning that it had applied for a fine. The company accepted the fine.
Saubermacher emphasized in a press release also sent on Monday morning that it had made a “significant contribution to the clarification” through “comprehensive cooperation.” According to the BWB, Saubermacher Dienstleistungs AG participated in anti-competitive price fixing, market sharing and the exchange of competition-sensitive information between July 2002 and March 2021. “After the declaratory action against the first key witness in February of this year, this is now the first application for a fine against a company in this complex of proceedings. The BWB team is gradually working through the evidence secured in order to bring the further proceedings to the cartel court quickly,” said BWB General Director Natalie Harsdorf. She had already announced applications for fines for this year at the beginning of the year.
Cases “identified” together with BWB
Saubermacher spoke of “around 80 individual cases” in the period in question “that are not acceptable under antitrust law or according to our system of values and ethics”. These cases were “identified” together with the BWB, according to the company, which also points out that it processed a total of one million orders across Austria between 2002 and 2021. No information was given on the order volume of the individual cases in relation to the other orders.
The investigations into the waste cartel became public in March 2021, when more than 20 locations across Austria were investigated. Energie AG in Upper Austria, Saubermacher AG in Styria and Brantner in Lower Austria confirmed that their premises had been searched at the time. The suspicion was of illegal agreements to the detriment of industry and waste management associations, municipalities and ultimately their citizens. After further applications for leniency, whistleblower reports and interviews, additional house searches were carried out a year later. An application for a declaratory judgment was filed with the Cartel Court against the first leniency witness, FCC, in February this year.
The waste management market in Austria comprises around 300 companies, including a number of national corporations and many smaller companies. For these companies, the so-called waste is a billion-dollar business. The industry has a turnover of more than five billion euros per year. The six largest companies together have a turnover of around two billion euros.
Politicians demand clarification
On Monday, the Styrian Greens demanded full clarification from the municipal representatives, Governor Christopher Drexler (ÖVP) and his deputy Anton Lang (SPÖ). Control spokesman Lambert Schönleitner wants to know how much damage has been done to the Styrian waste management associations, municipalities and citizens and how and by when this will be remedied: “It is a scandal and completely incomprehensible that for almost two decades illegal price fixing and market allocation have taken place at the expense of our municipalities and their citizens.” Full transparency is now needed and the question is why control mechanisms have failed.
The FPÖ echoed the same sentiment: “After such findings, we cannot simply move on to business as usual – especially not when the damage affects the communities and, at the end of the day, the taxpayers directly,” said community spokesman Stefan Hermann, whose hometown of Feldkirchen near Graz is also the headquarters of Saubermacher. “We will submit appropriate applications through our officials in the community halls, which aim to precisely determine the negative consequences of the garbage cartel on the tax situation in the communities. It is also not impossible that communities that have been harmed by the formation of the cartel will take legal action against the companies in question.”
The KPÖ mayor of Graz Elke Kahr saw its warnings confirmed: “The price fixing that has now become known makes it necessary for the city of Graz to check whether it has suffered any financial damage. These events show that we were right to warn against handing over public tasks to private providers. Waste disposal is a huge business that comes with great responsibility.”
In this context, the city of Villach stated that Villacher Saubermacher GmbH und Co KG was not affected by the BWB investigations. It is a subsidiary of the city of Villach. It is a public-private partnership model, with the city of Villach and Saubermacher being equal partners.