KKV flags Tampere vet clinics over proposed price coordination

Finland’s Competition and Consumer Authority has urged two veterinary clinics in Tampere to comply with competition law after a representative of one clinic proposed coordinating prices with competitors, Yle reports.

According to the authority’s investigation, a representative of Veterinary Clinic Status contacted representatives of two competitors through Instagram and WhatsApp messages in March 2025.

Copies of the messages obtained by the authority show that the Status representative proposed raising prices for emergency services for small animals. The representative also suggested that one competitor set a starting price of one million euros for bids in a procurement process covering Tampere and Pirteva.

The City of Tampere and the municipality of Pirkkala put emergency veterinary services for small animals out to tender in summer 2025 under the Veterinary Care Act. Status and Evidensia Veterinary Services did not win the procurement.

Information exchange can constitute bid rigging

KKV said contacts between competing businesses of this kind may raise concerns under competition law. Companies can be considered to have formed a bid-rigging cartel if they agree on the prices or price increases for products or services offered in a tender.

Even exchanging information about planned bids or target prices can constitute bid rigging, the authority said.

KKV will not investigate the matter further. Instead, it sent guidance letters to Status and Evidensia, urging the companies to assess their business practices under competition law and ensure compliance.

KKV said Evidensia denied that a Status representative had contacted the company. The authority also stressed that companies must respond truthfully to its requests for information and must not conceal anything.

According to KKV’s assessment, prices do not appear to have increased in the public procurement process. The winning bid was considerably cheaper than the previous equivalent contract.

Clinics give different accounts

Status chief executive Marika Lakkala said the contact was prompted by a recommendation from Pirteva, the organiser of the procurement process. She said Pirteva had recommended that clinics in the region consider forming consortia to submit a joint bid.

Lakkala said Status initially contacted other operators to assess the possibility of submitting a joint bid. The company soon concluded that cooperation was not feasible and submitted its own bid, she said.

Evidensia chief executive Anssi Tast said another company had asked in January 2025 whether Evidensia was willing to submit a joint bid for emergency small animal services in the Tampere region. Evidensia replied that it would submit its own bid, he said.

According to Tast, the same company sent Evidensia a three-part WhatsApp message in March 2025. The first part was a TikTok video, but Tast said he did not open the messages. Evidensia’s position is that no other operator contacted it in March 2025 and that Evidensia did not contact other operators, he said.