AS Last year, the Competition Authority completed supervisory proceedings regarding RagnSells AS, during which it found that the increase in prices for additional services in the waste collection areas of Pärnu was not justified. As a result, Ragn-Sells AS reduced its prices. More specifically, within the framework of the supervisory proceedings, an additional service was examined, which involved manual transportation (up to 15 meters from the stopping point) of waste bags or up to an 800-litre wheeled containers to the waste collection vehicle. Ragn-Sells AS had set the price of the aforementioned additional service to be 12 euros per time, which was much higher than the price for the same service in other waste transport areas. The Competition Authority found that this was a possible case of unfair pricing within the meaning of clause 1 of § 16 of the Competition Act, as a result of which Ragn-Sells AS reduced the price of the additional service in question to 5.35 euros. As a result, the Authority decided to terminate supervisory proceedings due to the improvement in the competitive situation.
The unfair pricing of additional services did not concern only the waste transport areas of Ragn-Sells AS. After the supervisory proceedings, the Competition Authority also mapped out the prices of additional services (manual transportation of up to an 800-litre container, for at least 11 m) set by other waste transport operators and found unreasonably high prices in certain areas. In total, the prices of additional waste collection services were changed in 12 waste collection regions: Kambja municipality, Põltsamaa, Türi municipality, Kose municipality, Lääneranna municipality, Anija municipality, Alutaguse municipality, Kohtla-Järve, Narva, Narva-Jõesuu, Sillamäe, and Jõgeva.
When pricing additional services related to organised waste transport, waste transport operators must always take into account the conditions for the prohibition of unfair pricing under subsection 1 of § 16 of the Competition Act. During the proceedings regarding the unfair pricing of additional services, it became apparent that the competitive situation in the organised waste transport sector requires broader attention from the Competition Authority. Considering that one of the objectives of the green transition is recycling and collection of municipal waste by type, the Competition Authority believes that more attention should be paid to organised waste transport procurements so as to ensure better conditions and maintain competition.