Court Terminates Bucharest Sanitation Contracts, Orders New Auctions

The suit was brought by Romania’s competition watchdog for the Bucharest authorities’ failure to conform to a 2009 order to reestablish a competitive environment in the city’s sanitation market. The watchdog’s investigation between February 2008 and December 2009 revealed the authorities had breached the Competition Law by extending sanitation contracts without holding new auctions to select the providers of these services.

The public sanitation system operates under the control and supervision of the local administration or community development associations. In this field, competition is apparent in the auctions organized by local authorities to entrust the management of the service, says a press release by the competition watchdog.