Thick mail for PubliGroupe
Marketer P is holding back small brokers and must pay them commissions. That is what the Weko Secretariat wants.
Marketer P slows down small intermediaries and has to pick them. This is what the Competition Commission Secretariat wants. The Secretariat of the Competition Commission (ComCo) has concluded a two-year investigation against PubliGroupe (P) and sent it the still confidential request for a statement (WW 40/04). The Secretariat is not revealing anything in terms of content, but P is. "The Competition Commission Secretariat sees its suspicions from the preliminary investigation of 2002 confirmed and is demanding that we also commission the small intermediaries", says Georges von Csernatony, a member of the P management. The now apparently confirmed suspicions from 2002 state that P "unlawfully restricts competition and abuses its dominant market position" by "discriminating" against some competitors and blocking their access to the market through unjustified guidelines.
The investigation was prompted by a complaint from the small advertising broker AdX. In 2001, it had applied for authorization as a professional intermediary and thus for the granting of the Intermediary Commission (IC). While AdX received the VK from its own titles, it was denied it by the Association of Swiss Advertising Companies (VSW) - all P subsidiaries. The reason given: AdX did not fulfill the VSW guidelines. The consequence of the rejection: he was not commissioned for advertisements that AdX placed with P-Pacht titles. So he filed a lawsuit.
The P now has a few weeks to comment on the 60-page report and application. The application will then be submitted to the entire Competition Commission.
Markus Knöpfli
The investigation was prompted by a complaint from the small advertising broker AdX. In 2001, it had applied for authorization as a professional intermediary and thus for the granting of the Intermediary Commission (IC). While AdX received the VK from its own titles, it was denied it by the Association of Swiss Advertising Companies (VSW) - all P subsidiaries. The reason given: AdX did not fulfill the VSW guidelines. The consequence of the rejection: he was not commissioned for advertisements that AdX placed with P-Pacht titles. So he filed a lawsuit.
The P now has a few weeks to comment on the 60-page report and application. The application will then be submitted to the entire Competition Commission.
Markus Knöpfli
