Czech RWE unit seeks to overturn $11.4 mln fine

...antitrust watchdog the UOHS, RWE said.

RWE Transgas, the natural gas supplier owned by RWE, was given the biggest-ever fine by the Office for the Protection of Competition (UOHS) last year for abusing its dominant market position.

"We will seek to have annulled the part of the decision where the (UOHS) chairman stated that rules on protection of economic competition were breached and levied a fine for this," RWE Transgas Chairman Martin Herrmann said in a statement.

The UOHS had found RWE applied more favourable conditions to regional distributors belonging to its group than to those that did not, and found its contracts with distributors also limited their options to sell gas outside the territory they normally serve.

RWE said it was convinced that its actions were in line with the law and wanted an independent court to rule on the matter.

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]