Bundeskartellamt abandons abuse of dominance proceedings against Compador Technologies GmbH

The Bundeskartellamt has abandoned its abuse of dominance proceedings against Compador Technologies GmbH, an affiliated company of Deutsche Post AG (DPAG). The proceedings were initiated after Compador had refused to continue a maintenance service contract for letter sorting machines with PostCon Deutschland GmbH, a competitor of DPAG. Compador has now submitted to PostCon a proposal for a new contract that is in line with competition law requirements.

Compador develops, produces and services letter sorting machines for alternative postal service providers. One of its customers is PostCon, a company affiliated with the Netherlands-based PostNL via TNT Post Deutschland B.V.& Co. KG. At the end of 2012, DPAG acquired a minority stake in Compador Technologies GmbH as well as in the newly established Compador Dienstleistungen GmbH, a consolidator and new entrant in the market. Consolidators are companies which collect letter post items from business customers and hand them over to the DPAG mail sorting centres for delivery. Around the time of DPAG's acquisition of stakes in Compador, the maintenance services contracts for the sorting machines supplied by Compador to PostCon were terminated.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "We considered the refusal to continue these maintenance services as the abuse of a dominant position. Without maintenance services a situation could have arisen where a portion of the letters could not have been sorted. Some of the maintenance services could only be provided by Compador. The proceedings could be discontinued after Compador had submitted a proposal for the conclusion of a new contract. Under the pressure of the ongoing proceedings Compador had continued to supply PostCon with spare parts and carried out urgent maintenance work."

It has since become known to the Bundeskartellamt that after the conclusion of the proceedings, PostCon has decided not to conclude a new maintenance service contract with Compador because of other business considerations.