The Commission for the Protection of Competition (hereinafter the ‘CPC’) at its meeting convened on 31 October 2012, having evaluated all the evidence before it, unanimously concluded that the practices / actions of HERMES AIRPORTS LTD, as an undertaking holding a dominant position and having special responsibility in the market of provision of management services in Larnaka airport, limit, hinder and distort competition in the relevant market of the provision of parking services to passengers of Larnaka Airport travelling abroad, in violation of section 6(1)(a) of the Protection of Competition Law L.13(I)/2008 (hereinafter the ‘Law’).
The CPC, on the basis of all the evidence before it, did not accept HERMES AIRPORTS LTD arguments as constituting an objective justification and reasoned that the only explanation for its actions was the exclusion of the undertakings which provide parking services outside the airport grounds and the strengthening of its position in the provision of parking services within the airport grounds to passengers of Larnaka airport travelling abroad.
Therefore, the CPC imposed on HERMES AIRPORTS LTD, pursuant to section 24(a)(i) of the Law, an administrative fine of €75.000 (Seventy Five Thousand Euro).