RB: 2/2021
Date: 4 January 2021
Decision of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection issued in connection with antimonopoly proceedings
Legal basis: Art. 17 item 1 of MAR – inside information.

Text of the report:

The Management Board of Benefit Systems S.A. with its registered seat in Warsaw (the “Company” or the “Issuer”) in connection with the decision of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (the UOKiK) (hereinafter, the “President of the UOKiK”) to initiate antimonopoly proceedings (the “Proceedings”) to which referred in its report No. 63/2018 of 28 June 2018, and further to the Company’s reports Nos.: 92/2018 of 28 November 2018, 20/2019 of 7 May 2019, 39/2019 of 1 October 2019, 7/2020 of 3 March 2020, 21/2020 of 30 July 2020 and 51/2020 of 28 December 2020, would like to announce that on 4 January 2021, the Issuer received decision of the President of the UOKiK (the “Decision”) concerning one of the three suspected infringements in connection with which the Proceedings were initiated.

According to the Decision, the President of the UOKiK declared that the participation of, among others, the Issuer in a market-sharing agreement continued in the period between 2012 - 2017, which constitutes an infringement of Art. 6.1(3) of the Act on Competition and Consumer Protection and Art. 101.1(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, constitutes a practice limiting competition on the domestic market for the provision of fitness services in fitness clubs.

The President of the UOKiK imposed fines on the parties to the Proceedings, including: on the Company - in the amount of PLN 26,915,218.36 (in words: twenty-six million nine hundred and fifteen thousand two hundred and eighteen and 36/100 zlotys) (taking into account the succession resulting from the merger of the Issuer with its subsidiaries being parties to the Proceedings), and on its subsidiary Yes to Move sp. z o.o. (formerly: Fitness Academy sp. z o.o.) - in the amount of PLN 1,748.74 (in words: one thousand seven hundred and forty-eight and 74/100 zlotys).

The Company does not agree with the Decision and is planning to lodge an appeal against the Decision within the time limit prescribed by law.