CRH facing €32m fine in Switzerland

Building materials group CRH is facing a €32 million a fine from Switzerland's competition regulator arising from an investigation into the bathroom fixtures and fittings industry.

CRH confirmed on Friday that the Swiss Competition Commission (Comco) announced it was imposing a 34 million Swiss franc (€32 million) fine on the Irish group as part of an overall 80 million franc sanction imposed on the Association of Swiss Wholesalers of the Sanitary Industry.

The fine that the commission is proposing to impose on the Irish group is 70 per cent less than the 119 million francs originally proposed.

“CRH is surprised at the unprecedented decision by Comco not to publish the basis of its findings at the same time as informing the public of its decision, considering that Comco had been reviewing and considering this matter for over nine months,” the group said in a statement.

Comco is expected to publish the basis for its findings in four months, at which time CRH has the option to appeal the decision to the Federal Administrative Tribunal. The building materials group said that it continued to be of the view that the commission’s position was fundamentally ill-founded and viewed the proposed fine as unjustified.

Comco announced in May that it was proposing to impose fines totalling 283 million francs on the overall wholesalers’ association.