The Rail Freight Group has welcomed today the decision of the French Competition Authority to fine SNCF €60.9 million for an abuse of its dominant position in taking various actions preventing or delaying the entry of new operators into the rail freight market.
The Authority found that SNCF used commercially confidential information from its competitors to provide information to the French infrastructure operations undertaken by SNCF for RFF, and for preventing its competitors by a number of means from obtaining the access to capacity necessary for their business.
The authority also warned SNCF against predatory pricing at rates lower than their costs incurred.
Earlier this month, Swiss competition authority fined four international freight forwarders 6.2 million Swiss Francs (€5.13 million) for participating in illegal agreements on fees and surcharges on the market for airfreight between 2003 and 2007.
RFG chairman Tony Berkeley said ’Both these examples demonstrate the need for full liberalisation and competition in the rail freight sector, backed up by strong independent regulation not only on competition issues but also on the issues exposed by the French Competition Authority’s decision.”
