The Senate’s Department of Administrative Cases has suspended proceedings in a case concerning the application by Rīgas satiksme, a municipal limited liability company, and the insolvent limited liability company Rīgas mikroautobusu satiksme, in which the applicants petition the court to declare a decision by the Competition Council illegal and set aside, after determining that the main proceedings should be suspended in order to refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The case under review concerns a challenge to a decision by the Competition Council, in which it imposed a penalty on both applicants for a cartel agreement the tariffs of public transportation services charged to consumers. In the appealed decision, the Competition Council held that, even though the right to provide public transportation services is an exclusive right, the applicants must be regarded as de facto competitors, since Rīgas Satiksme, by subcontracting to Rīgas mikroautobusu satiksme the right to provide premium public transportation services, created a new market operator which should have independently determined the price of its services. The Competition Council has submitted a cassation complaint against the judgement of the Regional Administrative Court which set aside its decision.

Senate ruled that, in order to correctly decide the case, it is necessary to determine whether competition could exist in the relevant market and whether the providers of the relevant services are competitors which should be operating independently in the market. Namely, it must be clarified whether the fact that the service is being provided on the basis of awarded exclusive rights renders competition in the relevant market, in principle, impossible, or whether each case should instead be assessed on its circumstances that could indicate that there is a de facto state of competition. In the case it would be determined that the factual circumstances are relevant, it is then necessary to determine if the kind of subcontracting agreement concluded by the applicants could create and has created a de facto state of competition in the relevant product market and if the contracting entities are de facto competitors.

In light of the foregoing, Senate has suspended the proceedings in the main case and has referred to the CJEU two questions for a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of European Union competition law. Proceedings in the case will be suspended until the CJEU ruling comes into force.

Case SKA-9/2026 (A43007717)

Information prepared by Viesturs Lācis, Adviser in the Matters of Senate Communication

Telephone: +371 67020302; e-mail: viesturs.lacis@at.gov.lv