The Commission for Protection of Competition instituted proceeding ex officio for investigating the infringement of competition against SERBIA BROADBAND – SRPSKE KABLOVSKE MREŽE DOO BEOGRAD for establishing the existence of abuse of dominance, within the meaning of Article 16 of the Law on Protection of Competition.

By analyzing the report on the fulfilment of conditions stipulated by the Commission’s decision no. 6/0-03-01/2017-26 of March 13, 2017 in relation to company SBB, conditionally approving the implementation of concentration created by acquisition of control on the part of company SBB over company Interaktivne kablovske objedinjene mreže – I.KOM d.o.o, the Commission gained knowledge that company SBB, as of January 1, 2018, increased the monthly service fee for maintenance of cable-distribution system and provision of cable TV for 100.00 dinars, that is, established the related fee at the level of 1,395.00 dinars.

As company SBB failed to present sufficient evidence on the reasonableness of costs pertaining to the monthly service fee for maintenance of cable-distribution system and provision of cable TV in the amount of 1,395.00 dinars, in accordance with Article 41 of the Law on Protection of Competition (Official Gazette of the RS 51/2009 and 95/2013 – hereinafter referred to as the Law) the Commission will establish the facts, that is, whether the price of related service is set in an unfairly high amount, which may lead towards the exploitation of service users.

All persons in possession of data, documents or other relevant information that could contribute to the fact-finding in this proceeding are called upon to submit the said to the Commission for Protection of Competition at the address 25, Savska St., Belgrade.

President of the Commission for Protection of Competition Dr. Miloje Obradović participated at the 2018 Kopaonik Business Forum – panel discussion “Antitrust compliance: Where companies go wrong and how to prevent them from doing so?”.

Besides Dr. Obradović, competition panel participants were Prof. Dr. Miroljub Labus (Faculty of Law in Belgrade), Ana Tozzi (Foreign Investors Council) and Dragan Lupšić (Coca-Cola), while Prof. Dr. Dragan Lončar (Faculty of Economics in Belgrade) moderated the discussion.

President Dr. Obradović underlined that a qualitative legal framework is the key prerequisite for efficient implementation of antitrust policy, in addition to the institutional independence of competition authorities. Of no less importance is consistent implementation of regulations, said Dr. Obradović.

“Our goal is to create a competitive market where undertakings will increase their productivity, innovations and investments, consequently generating economic prosperity, well-being of the society and the benefit of the consumers. For that reason, the Commission sees the increase of influence of antitrust policy on the economy as its key mission”, underlined the Commission President.

Dr. Obradović emphasized that the Commission will be even more focused on intensified regional cooperation in the period to come, and announced soon opening of the Western Balkans Forum of Competition Authorities, headquartered in Belgrade. The Commission implements this project under the auspices of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with the support of the European Commission.

“What do we expect in the future: tradition – to continue with our track record, trust – to continue building it even further, transparency – to secure legal safety for undertakings by having a consistent approach to proceedings, but also the positioning of the Commission and further organic growth and institutional strengthening”, said Dr. Obradović during the panel discussion.

Ana Tozzi underlined the importance of creating an equal-level playing field. “The country is accessing to the EU, and the economy should be able to handle the competitive pressure, and to do so, you need to have a company built on strong foundations”, Tozzi concluded at the panel
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Prof. Dr. Labus reminded the audience that not so long ago Serbia was outside the market trends. For that reason, the key task of competition policy today is to prevent abuses of dominance in all sectors of the economy.

During the panel discussion, Dragan Lupšić underlined the importance of education of all undertakings on antitrust policy.

The competition panel was attended by a great number of the Business Forum participants, representatives of the academic and expert public, companies and law offices.

At this year’s Business Forum, the Commission is also represented by members of the CPC Council Mirjana Mišković Vukašinović and Marko Obradović, in addition to Dr. Siniša Milošević, Head of the Economic Analysis Division and Gordana Lukić, Special Advisor at the Assessment of Concentrations Division.

At the 2017-2018 Competition Advocacy Contest: Closing the gap through competition advocacy: microeconomic policies, macroeconomic implications, traditionally launched by the International Competition Network (ICN) and the World Bank Group (WBG), the Commission for Protection of Competition received the Honorable Mention award.

The award is granted in a competition of more than 50 papers from 30 jurisdictions around the world, divided into four categories. The papers were reviewed by a panel comprised of renowned competition policy experts from the WBG and ICN.

The paper prepared by, Sunčica Đorđević, Senior Advisor, Miki Vidaković, Independent Advisor and Maja Dobrić, Advisor – all from the CPC Competition Infringements Division, competed within the category “Creating markets for private sector development”.

Awarded papers will be published, while a formal award ceremony will be organized at the ICN Annual Conference event, to be held this year in India. The Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia is one of more than 140 members of the International Competition Network (ICN).

This contest, launched on annual basis, aims to highlight the key role competition agencies play in promoting competition by showcasing their advocacy success stories. The Commission was also awarded last year in the 2016-2017 Competition Advocacy Contest in the category “Implementing advocacy strategies at multiple levels (regional, national, subnational, economic wide and sector specific)”.

The fact that the Commission for Protection of Competition is awarded for the second year in a row for accomplished activities in competition advocacy is the proof of its genuine dedication to developing awareness on the importance of competition policy.