The Maltese Competition Authority upheld as abusive the commercial practices of a private hospital and quashes subsidiary legislation stipulating prices of blood products supplied to private medical undertakings (Malta’s National Blood Transfusion Service)

This case started with a complaint filed with the Director of the Office for Fair Trading (hereinafter referred to as ‘Director') by Medical Laboratory Services Limited and Golden Shepherd Group Limited (hereinafter referred to as ‘complainants'), two undertakings operating different private hospitals in Malta, against the National Blood Transfusion Services (hereinafter referred to as ‘NBTS'). Complainants alleged that NBTS was abusing its dominant position by imposing patent discriminate pricing for its products to different customers, charging complainants commercial prices while supplying the public hospital with all necessary requirements free of charge, besides refusing to supply them with the necessary blood products. Following his preliminary investigation into this complaint, the