Cash and values transportation company is fined for hindering the performance of a competitor

The Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) fined Rodoban Segurança e Transporte de Valores Ltda. in BRL 318,000 for hindering the activities of a competitor in the security-services’ market in Belo Horizonte and metropolitan area.

The security-service comprehends the collection of cashboxes and documents in banking branches and corresponding institutions. This activity depends on a treasury service, which is provided by a private security company with structure to receive the cashboxes and process the valuables and documents in it.

The Administrative Proceeding (PA 08012.009757/2009-88) was opened after a complaint filed by Embraforte Segurança e Trasnporte de Valores Ltda. stating that Rodoban, a company that offers both treasury and transportation services, would be hindering the activity of the competitor in the security-services’ market. 

According to the complaint, Rodoban was the only company contracted by Caixa Econômica Federal in 2008 to provide the treasury service in the region.  The company tried to charge Embraforte, provider of security-services for 200 lottery agencies in the region, which are banking correspondents of Caixa, a BRL 15 tax to receive each cashbox from Embraforte for storage.

Rodoban’s allegation to justify charging this tax was that its contract with Caixa to provide the treasury service covered only cashboxes received from banking agencies, not corresponding institutions, like the ones served by Embraforte.

In addition to communicate Embraforte about the tax, Rodoban sent to the company an “Access Granting Contract”, which should be signed under penalty of not receiving Embraforte’s cashboxes to be processed.

The Reporting Commissioner, Ricardo Ruiz, identified that Caixa’s treasury service contract with Rodoban covered the lottery agencies in the region. Thus, it was already paid. According to him, “By applying for the service, the company knew it would also be responsible for receiving the cashboxes, since it is not possible to perform the storage or handling without receiving them”.

According to the Reporting Commissioner, any changes that would create a significant impact in Rodoban’s costs should be negotiated directly with Caixa, not passed on to third parties.

CADE’s Tribunal concluded that the charge of tax of cashboxes receiving was imposed artificially by Rodoban to Embraforte with the purpose of elevating the operation costs of its competitor and hinder its activity on the security-service market.

“Given its monopolist position in Caixa’s treasury activity, the absence of economic justification for the charge, the absence of benefits for the consumers and the fact that this service was already paid by Caixa, it’s clear that the conduct had the purpose to hinder or even eliminate competitors from the security-service market”, concluded the Reporting Commissioner.