On the occassion of marking a decade of work of the Commission, the guest of the Commission was William Kovacic, Professor at the University of George Washington and Director of the Competition and Market Agency of the United Kingdom (CMA), one of the leading experts on the issues of protection of competition in the world.

Prof. Kovacic held a very informative lecture for employees of the Commission about developments and experiences, but also challenges for competition authorities around the world.

Prof. Kovacic was also a participant at the panel which was organized within the conference ”Competition Day” held on April 12, 2016.

The lecture was attended by the President and members of the Council of the Commission, heads of divisions and employees of Technical Service. After the lecture, expert discussion and exchange of experience on competition law and policy in Serbia and the world was organized.

Representatives of the Commission for Protection of Competition have participated in the seminar “Basic concepts and procedures in competition law for young authority staff”, which was held in Budapest from 08th to 11th March 2016 and organized by the Regional Centre for Competition – OECD and the Hungarian Competition Authority.

The main topics discussed in the seminar touched upon various issues of competition law, such as the definition of the relevant market, use and storage of confidential information in the investigation of competition infringements, abuse of dominant position, mergers, etc. Special emphasis was placed on work-group exercises and discussions, with examples provided from practice and solutions available in differing national legislation. Additionally, a brief overview of the relevant case-law of the European Court of Justice, which has left a mark on the application of competition law and the conduct of the European Commission in the field, was provided for the majority of discussed topics.

On the occassion of adoption of the new Regulation on the content and manner of notification of concentration (”Official Gazette of the RS.”, no. 5/16), Commission for Protection of Competition points to the obligation of market participants to notify concentration.

The Law on Protection of Competition provides for the obligation to notify concentration, in a manner and under conditions prescribed by this Law and the Regulation on the content and manner of notification of concentration (”Official Gazette of the RS.”, no. 89/09). It also established the obligation of the party to concentration to suspend the implementation of concentration until the decision of the Commission, as well as Commission’s competence, in case of implementation of concentration contrary to these obligations, to determine a measure for protection of competition to market participant, in the form of pecuniary fine in the amount up to 10% of the total annual turnover.

Failure to comply with obligations relating to notification of concentration within the legally prescribed period (Article 63), and suspension of concentration until the decision of the Commission, constitute a violation of the Law, and in cases where its existence has been established, the Commission shall issue a decision ordering the measure of procedural penalty, or a measure of protection of competition. These obligations apply, pursuant to provision of Article 3 of the Law, to all market participants, including public companies which, provided that the requirements laid down in Article 61 of the Law relating to total annual turnover are fulfilled, must notify the acquisition of control over another market participant.

The importance to comply with obligations relating to notification of concentration and suspension of its implementation until decision of the Commission, should be seen primarily in the context of the possible negative effects that concentrations for which the approval of the Commission was not obtained, may have on competition, whose creation is prevented precisely by ex ante control of concentration in order to protect competition from restriction, distortion or prevention, or the creation or strenghtening of dominant position of the party to concentration in the relevant market.

On January 23, 2016, Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted Regulation on the content and manner of notification of concentration. The Regulation was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no. 5/2016, dated January 25, 2016 and will enter into force on February 2, 2016, when it will begin to be implemented in the work of the Commission. Notifications of concentrations that are submitted as of February 2, have to be in accordance with this Regulation. The new regulation provides for the possibility of notification in summary form, which will facilitate the notification by reducing the necessary documentation to be submitted attached to notification. The conditions for submitting a notification in a summary form are regulated by the same Regulation. The Commission is ready, by applying the institute of pre-notification meeting, to eliminate ambiguities in the implementation of Regulation that the market participants may have.