The Commission for Protection of Competition uploaded on its YouTube channel a video clip, produced to inform undertakings on the possible use of the Leniency Programme.

The Law on Protection of Competition provides for the Leniency Program for undertakings that report restrictive agreements, which envisages the full or partial immunity from fines in return for the cooperation with the Commission necessary for their disclosure and gathering evidence, in particular, in respect of the cartels.
Under the project “Increasing economic growth through support to promotion of competition policy” implemented in cooperation with the Kingdom of Norway and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade, the Commission produced this video material in an effort to incite and inform undertakings in the Republic of Serbia that have participated in restrictive agreements, of the benefits of the Leniency Programme.

The Commission for Protection of Competition instituted antitrust proceedings ex officio against companies Porsche SCG Beograd, subjected to a dawn raid, Autokomerc Beograd, Autocentar Manik – ACM Preljina, and Bros Auto Niš, to investigate the existence of restrictive agreements referred to in Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition, which restrict competition on the car sales market in the Republic of Serbia.

When analyzing competitive conditions on the markets for automotive sales and aftersales services in 2017, 2018 and 2019, the Commission has established the existence of a contractual provision in the provided agreements for products/Audi-branded vehicles, enabling the importer to set resale prices of motor vehicles. Such provisions can disturb and even eliminate price competition in retail, that is, price competition that could have existed between car dealers of this particular brand if they had been able to set their resale prices independently.

For the reasons outlined above, the Commission will, in particular, investigate whether the companies against which the proceedings had been brought, have set the resale prices of products/Audi-branded vehicles, which would represent an infringement of competition referred to in Article 10 of the Law.

The Commission for Protection of Competition invites all persons in possession of data, documents, or other relevant information that could contribute to the accurate fact-finding in this proceedings, to present said evidence to the Commission at 25 Savska St., 4th Floor, Belgrade.

In accordance with Article 47 of the Law on Protection of Competition, the Commission for Protection of Competition has conducted a sector inquiry into competitive conditions on the wholesale market for synthetic (mineral) fertilizers.

The Commission has noted the need to analyze the competitive conditions on the fertilizers market given the increase in the producer price of fertilizers in the first three quarters of 2019, as well as the bankruptcy of one of the largest manufacturers of synthetic fertilizers in the Republic of Serbia – company “HIP Azotara” from Pančevo.

The research is carried out to provide a comprehensive overview of the structure and dynamics of this market and competitive conditions prevailing therein, as well as to identify potential market weaknesses.

In this inquiry, the Commission started off from the wholesale market for synthetic (mineral) fertilizers as a whole, within which it has analyzed the market for nitrogen fertilizers and the market for compound fertilizers.

For the purposes of this analysis, the Commission has collected and processed the data of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Finance – Customs Administration, as well as other publicly available data and information relating to the production, import, export, and wholesale of synthetic fertilizers. The sector inquiry also looked into eight undertakings, manufacturers, and importers whose combined share accounted for about 90% of the total estimated fertilizers market in 2019.

The Commission wishes to express its gratitude to all undertakings for providing the requested information throughout the drafting process, and invites all interested parties and other experts to present their respective commentaries to the report by sending their observations to the email address office.kzk@kzk.gov.rs, Subject line: Commentary to the sector inquiry into fertilizers market, no later than January 15, 2021.