Competition Watchdog Slaps Fine on Bulgaria's Largest Expo

The Plovdiv Fair has abused its dominant position with respect to the renting of stands in its exhibition facilities, according to a ruling of the competition watchdog. File Photo

Bulgaria’s largest commercial expo, “International Fair Plovdiv”, has been fined for “abuse of dominant position.”

The Bulgarian Competition Protection Commission has fined the Fair BGN 216 630 because the company formed in an illegal way the prices for services such as “right of construction” and “rent of a stand” for its exhibit facilities.

“We are going to pay our fine because we are guilty; we are no longer offering these services, and are abiding by the rules of the Competition Protection Commission,” stated the majority owner of the Plovdiv Fair, Georgi Gergov, as cited by the Dnevnik Daily.

This is the second fine slapped on the international fair for the same violation. In 2007, the company was fined BGN 300 000; the fine was subsequently appealed and confirmed by the Supreme Administrative Court.

The new fine has been calculated based on the turnover of the Plovdiv International Fair for 2008, which amounts to BGN 36 M. The violation was committed in September 28-October 3, 2009.

The suit was filed by the Bulgarian Association for Fair and Exhibit Services; it stated that the International Plovdiv Fair had not only set equal prices for the construction and the renting of stands but even increased them.

The price of the service for “building exhibit stands” was between EUR 43 and EUR 55.

The competition watchdog discovered that thanks to its practical monopoly on the market for the access to the exhibition facilities, the International Fair set more favorable conditions for itself when providing the respective services.

“The Plovdiv Fair offered the construction of exhibition stands with a very low profit in order to attract more exhibitors because it faces competition on the market. At the same time, however, it had the capacity to meet the demand, and was not interested in attracting outside construction companies. This is why it set a very high price on the construction permits, thus using an anti-competition strategy for achieving its goals,” states the ruling of the Competition Protection Commission.

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