THE COMPETITION COUNCIL APPEALED THE COURT'S DECISION REGARDING THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES

The dispute over whether the Lithuanian Pharmaceutical Association (LPA) and its members were justifiably fined for entering into an anti-competitive agreement is moving to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania – today, the Competition Council submitted an appeal outlining the reasons why it is requesting the annulment of the decision adopted by the court of first instance.

The Competition Council disagrees with the conclusion made by the Regional Administrative Court that the actions of the LPA and the pharmaceutical companies did not violate competition rules, as they were carried out not in the market context but as part of the legislative process, during which the Ministry of Health set the margins on medicines.

In its appeal, the Authority presented its position along with legal and factual arguments explaining why it disputes the assessment of the case facts provided in the first-instance court’s decision of June 17, addressing various aspects.

In 2022, the Competition Council found that by submitting coordinated margins and their calculations, the LPA and the pharmaceutical companies had a significant influence on the Ministry‘s decisions regarding the margins. The Ministry, which did not have information on the costs incurred by businesses, relied on the margins agreed between the LPA and competitors, and subsequently – having made amendments agreed with the LPA – approved them. For the established violation of the Law on Competition and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the association and eight pharmaceutical companies were fined more than EUR 72 million.