On 10.11.2015, European Commission published its Annual Report on the Serbia progress in the process of European integration, in which it examined the compatibility of regulations and the manner of their implementation to EU acquis.
When it comes to Chapter 8 – competition policy, European Commission assessed that Serbia is ”moderately” prepared to assume the obligations in this field. The greatest progress under this Chapter has been made in the area of competition protection, more specifically, narrowed down to infringement of competition and merger control.
European Commission said that in the field of competition infringements and merger control, the legal framework has been largely harmonised with EU acquis. Commission for Protection of Competition has maintained its level of activities from 2014, making decisions on abuse of dominant position and merger control. Conduct of two dawn raids in July 2015, is a positive development towards a more efficient fight against cartels.
The Report says that in 2015, administrative capacity of the Commission has been significantly strengthened. On the other hand, according to estimates in the Report, the capacity of judiciary to decide on complex cases in the field of competition must be further improved.
Commission for Protection of Competition has initiated an investigation procedure for infringement of competition ex officio, against the company ”Infostan”, Public Utility Company from Belgrade, in order to investigate infringement of competition as in Article 16 of the Law on Protection of Competition.
Abuse of dominant position on the market is prohibited, especially in case of applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties, thereby placing them at a disadvantage in relation to competitors.
Commission reasonably assumes that company Infostan posseses business sensative information on the number of customers, who do not have a household insurance, listed through unified billing system. By using its knowledge and position, company Infostan allowed joint stock insurance company ”Generali Insurance Serbia”, an insight into the market, and provided information on potential customers who do not use insurance services, whereby it applied dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other market participants, placing at the disadvantage particular market participants in relation to their competitors, thereby abusing its dominant position.
Commision shall, within investigation procedure, undertake evidentiary actions in order to determine decisive facts, which are important for assessing the existence of infringement of competition.
We invite all persons who have data, documents or other relevant information which may contribute to determining the factual situation in this procedure to submit them to Commission for Protection of Competition at Savska 25, Belgrade.
Foreign Investors Council (FIC), at its annual presentation of business climate and recommendations for its improvement – ”White Book 2015”, notes visible progress in the work of Commission for Protection of Competition.
According to Foreign Investors Council, the improvements are obvious regarding the clarification of existing competition rules governing commitments, but also relations between competitors in public procurement procedures. As stated in the ”White Book” particularly noteworthy is the fact that in November 2014, Commission for the first time applied ”commitment decision” introduced by the amendments to the Law on Protection of Competition of 2013.
Extremely positive progress is, in the opinion of Foreign Investors Council, a public invitation which the Commission sent to all relevant stakeholders, to submit comments to the draft Regulation on Notification of Concentration. Commission clearly demonstrated, during a public debate on the draft Regulation, that it is willing and ready to transparently and openly discuss with the business community new laws and supporting sub-legal acts and consequently, to consider and accept comments to its own draft legislations. In addition, although periodically published opinions and decisions of Commission generally improve the existing legal framework and provide a better understanding of competition rules, an additional effort should be made in publishing updated (and comprehensive) quidelines and recommendations of the Commission, said FIC Report.
Foreign Investors Council has been issuing this publication since 2013 and it is promoted in the forth quarter every year at the prestigious event. ”White Book” is a representation of business climate in Serbia by private sector and in transparent way represents a platform for dialogue with the government authorities and a practical set of recommendations. Its aim is to allow the removal of unnecessary barriers to doing business in Serbia, which makes easier the inflow of investments.
President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Mr. Miloje Obradovic, Ph.D., on Wednesday, November 4, 2015, in Metropol Hotel delivered a keynote address at the Conference organized by the law office Karanovic & Nikolic and the German foundation Friedrich Naumann.
The occassion for holding the Confernce was the marking of the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the first modern Law on Protection of Competition in the Republic of Serbia. Presentations and discussions were focused on innovations in the field of competition law, with particular emphasis on dawn raids, actions for damages caused by infringement of competition and competition law in digital age.
One of the panelists at the Conference was Mr.Cedomir Radojcic, Head of Restrictive Practices Division in the Commission for Protection of Competition, who gave an overview of the first decade of implementation of Law on Protection of Competition in Serbia, as well as the establishment of Commission’s practice in dawn raids.
The public at the Conference positively assessed the predictability of proceedings by Commission for Protection of Competition, which is, as pointed out by speakers, very important for certainty of market participants and their business decisions.
The Conference provided also an opportunity for competion advocacy in the professional community, as well as exchange, through dialogue, of experience and views on the situation in this field.
Delegation of the Commission for Protection of Competition attended the 14th session of the OECD Annual Conference, entitled ”Global Forum on Competition” at the invitation of OECD Secretariat.
Annual meeting was held in the head-office of OECD, on October 29 and 30, 2015, having as primary topics ”Connection and Interdependence of Competition Policy and Employment” (does competition contribute to job distruction or job creation ?) and ”Cartels – Series Offenders (discussion on the issue of systematic repetition of cartel agreements in certain sectors of economy)”.
The first day of Conference was dominated by topic which engaged the representatives of both competition authorities and representatives of governments, trade unions and academia. The session focused on theoretical and practical examples which explored several models according to which active competition policy in certain areas contributes to creation of new jobs, but in some cases it also leads to loss of jobs.
On the second day of Conference, our delegation participated in the session on the subject of systematic repetition of cartel agreements in certain sectors of economy. Delegation conducted also a series of bilateral discussions with representatives of competition authorities from Austria, United States, Romania, Czech Republic, Sweden, countries in the region and other, on the subject of continuing further cooperation in the forthcoming period.
Conference was attended by over 90 delegations of competition authorities from all over the world, as well as representatives of international institutions, academia and business associations.
Commission for Protection of Competition, in the procedure conducted ex officio, found that the companies “D&D Travel”, Ltd., Niš, “DJD prevoz” Ltd., Niš and “Jeremic prevoz” Ltd., Niš, concluded a restrictive agreement which pre-arranged individual participation in the public procurement for Clinical Centre Niš (service for organized transport of workers in 2014). During the procedure, the Commission established that those undertakings infringed competition rules by agreeing to determine prices and other commercial conditions contained in every single offer, which led to their infringment of competition under Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition.
Given the above, the Commission set a measure for protection of competition in the form of pecuniary fine in the amount of 1.6% of the total annual turnover realized in 2013 for all above stated companies.
In Beograd, at the Media Centre, the publication “Transparency and Accountability of Agencies: Comparative Analysis of Five Regulated Sectors in Serbia and Macedonia” was presented analysing ten regulatory and control bodies in Serbia and Macedonia, including the Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia.
This publication presents the results of one-year study to show that the Commission applied a high degree of transparency in its work. ”Details pertaining to its core competencies, such as information on infringements of competition and monitoring of competition, have been extensively published on the Commission site. The Commission has therefore achieved a high degree of transparency, especially with regard to the first, second, third and fourth element of transparency regarding decisions, rules, conduct and control of market participants” – as stated in publication.
The presentation of publication ”Transparency and Accountability of Agencies: A Comparative Analysis of Five Regulated Sectors in Serbia and Macedonia” was attended by the Secretary to the Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia, Mr.Dragan Penezic, who spoke of further steps in improving the transparency of work, and plans to strenghten Commission’s presence in the public, primarely citizens and business community.
In his speech, Secretary to the Commission stressed his satisfaction with the fact stated in publication, that the Commission for Protection of Competition was singled out from other analyzed institutions, because of the positive effects of the Commission’s decision to publish more information on site than is a legal requirement. As a reminder, since 2013, in the frame of publishing issued descisions, the Commission also publishes the reasoning of such decisions, thus increasing the level of transparency of the decision making process.
At the invitation of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation, President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Mr. Miloje Obradovic, Ph.D. and a member of the Council, Ms. Mirjana Miskovic Vukasinovic, on September 23, 2015 attended jubilee session marking 25 years since its founding, and ”Competition Week” in Moscow. On this occassion, President of the Commission gave a remarkable presentation at the formal part of the session, which was also attended by the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Putin.
President of the Commission, Mr.Miloje Obradovic, Ph.D. in his address pointed out that competition policy has long ago overcome national boundaries and therefore cannot depend only on domestic rules of work, but should be regularly coordinated with the general rules of competition protection applied worlwide. That is why the cooperation with competition authority from Russian Federation, raised to the highest level in the last few years, as indicated by him, has opened yet another significant chapter in the development of Serbian Commission. Expedient exchange of information, comparative practice and possibility of exchanging experience through joint meetings, are of great benefit to Technical Service of the Commission.
Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia and Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation signed Cooperation Agreement in 2012, followed by a series of joint activities that significantly influenced the improvement of work of the Commission. Pursuant to the Agreement, seminars and education in FAS training center in Kazan were organized, attended by many employees from Technical Service of the Commission, as well as a study visit and a visit of Russian colleagues last year to Serbia.
Serbian Chamber of Commerce organized a professional Conference on the occassion of completion of Project ”Strenghtening the Capacity of Commission for Protection of Competition” financed by European Union. At the introductory part of the Conference, the Agreement on Cooperation between Commission for Protection of Competition and Chamber of Commerce of Serbia was signed. This Agreement shall continue to advance successful cooperation between the Commission and Chamber of Commerce in the field of protection of competition for the more efficient functioning of the products and service market. Business community, through cooperation of the Commission and Chamber of Commerce, shall keep up with European standards in the field of competition law and policy, which is an important segment in the process of accession to full membership in European Union.
Main intention of topics of the Conference was to present a model of corporate responsibility, as well as principles and possibilities of leniency program. Model of corporate responsibility represents a system of internal rules adopted and implemented by a company in order to comply with competition rules, and thus avoid high fines prescribed for cases when there is distortion, restriction or prevention of competition in the market.
President of the Commission, Mr. Miloje Obradovic, Ph.D. said that, in the future, Commission will be primarely engaged in the fight against cartels and abuses of dominant position – problems that other countries also have, and which are the most present where there is a sigificant business activity. As he explained, the goal of the Commission is not to sanction market participants, but to make them observe prescribed standards in their business activities. Referring to negotiation Chapter 8 which regulates the field of competition, Mr. Obradovic emphasized that the protection of competition in Serbia is at its utmost harmonized with EU legislation.
Final Conference also served to summarize the results of this successful Project, and provided a frame for exchange of knowledge in order to promote competition policy in Serbia, as one of the most important policies for the functioning of free market.
Introduction of electronic file management system and operational database, development of strategic plan of the Commission for the next period was listed as being of the most important results of the Project, as well as communication strategy and finalization of ”Operational Manual” which provides all the steps in procedures under the competence of Commission for Protection of Competition. A multitude of trainings, workshops and simulations were realized to prepare employees, experts of the Commission for successful conduct of dawn raids. Initial dawn raids were successfully completed, – as positively outlined in all respects by the representative of EU Delegation – at which a sophisticated forensic equipment was used (purchased under the same IPA program from which the entire Project was financed). In addition to strategic development plan, advocacy plan of Commission was also prepared which began to be implemented and to give first results in communication with the public and in introduction of competition law and policy with government authorities, professional and general public. Autumn Scool of Competition and training of professionals from Chamber of Commerce, who will be able to provide relevant information to business community on competition law and policy, was successfully organized. The Conference served to present and introduce a model of corporate responsibility, the application of which shall reduce uncertainty faced by market participants, prevent illigal actions and lead to strenghtening of competition and increase of economic efficiency and better selection of quality goods and services.
The Conference was also attended by Mr. Freek Janmaati, Department for European Integration and Economic Affairs of Euopean Union Delegation in Serbia, Mr. Andrej Plahutnik, Project Leader, members of the Council, as well as representatives from business associations and companies.
The Project was implemented from September 2012 to 2015. In accordance with obligations under the Stabilization and Association Agreement, the Project was focused on technical and operational support to the Commission in order to strenghten its capacity for implementation of competition policy in Serbia.
As of August 24, 2015, the Commission is to continue its work at the following address:
Savska 25, fourth floor, 11000 Beograd
All other data relevant to respective parties, including phone numbers and e-mail addresses, remain unchanged.
Until September 1, 2015 the submission and receipt of mail will also be possible both at the former and the new address, and after that date, only at:
Commission for Protection of Competition
Savska 25, fourth floor
11000 Beograd