The Austrian competition authority has imposed a fine of €400,000 on Mageba following a request from the Federal Competition Authority. The violations occurred between November 2017 and December 2018 and involved illegal customer allocations and the exchange of price behavior information with competitor Maurer SE and Maurer Söhne Ges.mbH.

Both companies operate in the market for expansion joints and bridge bearings. The decision made by the competition authority is now legally binding.

Maurer cooperated as a whistleblower with the Federal Competition Authority, which led to the court only recognizing the violations related to the cartel prohibition. This included the illegal customer allocations and the unlawful exchange of pricing information in the sector of expansion joints and bridge bearings in Austria during the specified period.

The Federal Competition Authority has the discretion to refrain from requesting a fine if a company involved in a cartel is the first to approach them and meets other necessary conditions.

The determination of the fine amount is at the discretion of the cartel court, which can impose fines of up to 10% of the total revenue of the corporate group from the previous business year for violations of the cartel law.