Investigations concluded

Cartel fine fixed: Fronius must pay €3 million

Fronius must now pay three million euros.(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart)

Four years after the investigations into a welding technology cartel began, they have now been concluded - this was announced by the Federal Competition Authority on Monday. For Fronius, the discovery of the collusion was costly: the company from Upper Austria must pay three million euros. The fine is legally binding.

On June 30, 2023, the Federal Competition Authority submitted an application to the Cartel Court to impose a fine on Fronius for a welding technology cartel, and four months later the amount of the fine was fixed at three million euros.

On Monday, the case, for which two authorized dealers, Zultner and Haberkorn, were also asked to pay, caught up with the family-owned company from Pettenbach (Upper Austria) once again. The Federal Competition Authority announced that the 3 million euro fine has now been legally imposed and the cartel investigations have been concluded.

Anonymous tips triggered investigations
Fronius had concluded a regional distribution agreement with authorized dealers with territorial protection, price agreements and non-competition clauses. In 2020, the Federal Competition Authority received anonymous tips about this and then began investigations in August of the same year. Fronius submitted the leniency application in July 2021 and has been working intensively with the authorities to clarify the matter ever since.