Romania’s Competition Council has started an investigation on the possible breach of EU competition rules by various local insurance companies and insurers’ associations.

The investigation targets the public relations firm Media Xprimm that specializes in insurance and private pensions, the Romanian insurers associations UNSAR as well as UNSAR member companies and other insurers.

The investigation focuses on a possible exchange of sensitive commercial information among competitors in the insurance market. The examination will last between one year and a half and two years.

If the Competition Council finds enough evidence which proves the breach of competition law, the fines could be between 0.5% and 10% of the premiums collected by each company in the previous year, said Bogdan Chiritoiu, president of the Competition Council, quoted by Agerpres newswire.

UNSAR's representatives said on Monday that the association will cooperate with the Competition Council's investigation and that they were confident the targeted companies and institutions broke no competition rules.

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editor@romania-insider.com