The case between the Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania and the Competition Council has been settled definitively  

On 19 December 2024, the High Court of Cassation and Justice definitively ruled that the Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania (CAFR) had perpetrated an infringement of competition law by imposing of a fixed level of fees among its members.

The CAFR, the professional body that coordinates and authorises financial auditing services in Romania, was found to have set an average hourly fee and a minimum number of hours for an audit, coupled with penalties for non-compliance, with the result that beneficiaries of these services paid higher fees.

Consequently, at the end of 2016, the Competition Authority imposed a fine on the CAFR of 819,322 lei (182,000 euros).

The CAFR challenged the decision and the court of first instance, the Bucharest Court of Appeal, dismissed the action as unfounded. Subsequently, the High Court of Cassation and Justice upheld the judgment of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, whose ruling thus becomes final.

Source: Competition Council press release, December 2024