The Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia has, in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and with the technical assitance of the Centre for liberal-democratic studies (CLDS), organized an international Conference on Institution Building of the National Competition Authorities in South- East Europe.

The Conference was opened by the President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Miloje Obradović, PhD, the director of the EBRD for Serbia, Daniel Berg and the head of the Negotiating team for the Accession of the Republic of Serbia to the EU, Tanja Miščević.

The President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Miloje Obradović, PhD, has emphasised that, after years of recession, the national competition authorities do not have the right to a mistake, that they must secure free application of the competition rules and intervene only to the extent and manner necessary to ensure consumer welfare.

”I believe that the only solution may be obtained through the build-up of institutional capacities of the bodies for protection of competition so that they would be enabled to, based on economic parametres, act as objectively as possible. What we need are new tools and instruments for assessing the market and behaviour of its participants. Also, what is important is the performance of relevant sector inquiries, the topic which we will, to my pleasure, discuss tomorrow.”

President Obradović has further stated that he believes there is significant room for improvement of the institutional capacities of the national competition authorities in the region.

”The exchange of experiences which contribute to the alignment of practice, as a necessity in the times of interconnected markets and globalization, as well as the presentation of new tools, procedures and legal solutions shall, without doubt, be the required step further in the fight against the increasingly subtle attempts at competition infringements, which we get to witness every day.”

The director of the EBRD for Serbia, Daniel Berg, has expressed his support for engagement and role of the national competition authorities and emphasised the importance of the fact that Serbia has a Commission which is capable of facing the challenges in creating equal conditions for all the market participants. These kinds of gatherings are, according to Berg, of crucial significance since they provide for an exchange of experiences which will improve the functioning of the all competition authorities in the South-East region of Europe.

”If the market is regulated, the conditions for economic growth and society welfare are in place. If the grey market has a larger share, the probability of criminality rise is higher”, it was concluded by Berg, who also added that the EBRD and other international institutions are making a strong contribution and efforts to enhance the regulatory framework in order to improve the investment climate in those countries.

In that sense, Serbia is extremely successful, in the opinion of Berg, since it has a set of economic laws in place which improve the conditions for its competitiveness.

The head of the Negotiating team for the Accession of the Republic of Serbia to the EU, Tanja Miščević has stated that Serbia will not face larger problems in negotiating Chapter 8 with regard to competition issues.

”When it comes to protection of competition, the position of Serbia shall, thanks to the quality of the work performed by the Commission for Protection of Competition, not be problematic. Nevertheless, state aid is also a part of this negotiating chapter and this is where matters will be a lot more complex.”

She made a remark that the Commission for Protection of Competition is a good example of the functioning of an independent body, even though such bodies were mainly unknown in the countries with transition economies.

The Conference was also attended by renowned panelists such as Russell Pittman, PhD, of the US Department of Justice, Lorenzo Ciari of the EBRD, Gregor Langus of the European Commission and many other international and local experts in this field, representatives of the legal profession, as well as the business and academic community in Serbia.

Media support of the Conference was provided by the N1 television, Fonet agency, as well as the Nedeljnik and Nova Ekonomija magazines.

The President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Miloje Obradovic, Phd, with the members of the Councel of the Commission, has received Dimitri Loukas who is the Vice-President of the Commission for Protection of Competition of Greece.

In order to promote the further cooperation of these two institutions the topics of disscussion were the exchange of experiences in the field of the legislative framework and also the implementation of the policy of the Protection of Competition.

Obradović and Loukas agreed that there will be further steps in the collaboration which would allow the policy of the Protection of Competition to be even more efficient in this part of Europe. The activities that follow will provide for the Serbian Commision for the Protection of Competition to be even closer to European standards in the field of Law and the Policy of the Protection of Competition, which are an essential part of the negotiating process for accession to full membership in the European Union.