Two Chinese solar manufacturers are said to have received illegal subsidies. Now the EU Commission is investigating – also against the company headquarters in Frankfurt.
The EU Commission is investigating a company with its European headquarters in Frankfurt because the company may have had an unfair advantage in a public tender through money from abroad. The authority said on Wednesday: “The Commission will examine whether the economic operators concerned benefited from an unfair advantage in order to obtain public contracts in the EU.”
This involves, among other things, a solar company with Chinese roots that claims to have its European headquarters in Frankfurt.
Distortion of competition possible
The tender in question focuses on a project in Romania. According to the information, a photovoltaic park is to be built there. After a preliminary examination, the Commission considered it justified to take a closer look at two tenderers for the project. There is enough evidence that foreign subsidies were provided that distorted competition. The Commission emphasizes that there is still no conclusive conclusion as to whether unfair competition really exists.
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In public tenders, the contract is often awarded to the company that submits the cheapest offer. However, if the winner of a tender is supported by money from abroad, he can submit cheaper offers than competitors who do not have this advantage and thus force competitors out of the market.
In the European Union, companies are obliged to report their participation in public tenders to the Commission if the estimated contract value is at least 250 million euros and the company has received at least 4 million euros in foreign financial assistance from a third country.
