The High Court of Cassation and Justice has delivered (23 December) a final ruling confirming that the Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania (CFAR) violated competition law by imposing fee restrictions on its members.
Anticompetitive Practices
CFAR, the professional body overseeing financial auditing in Romania, had established an average hourly fee and a minimum number of hours for audit missions. The organization also enforced these rules through sanctions for non-compliance. These practices artificially raised costs for clients of financial auditing services, limiting competitive pricing among auditors.
Penalties and Legal Proceedings
In 2016, Romania’s Competition Council sanctioned CFAR with a fine of 819,322 lei (approximately €182,000) for its anticompetitive practices. CFAR challenged the decision in court, but the Court of Appeal dismissed its appeal as unfounded. The High Court of Cassation and Justice has now upheld the lower court’s decision, finalizing the ruling in favor of the Competition Council.
Source: https://www.consiliulconcurentei.ro/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Eng-CAFR-dec-2024.pdf
