The delegation of the Commission for the Protection of Competition of North Macedonia, led by President Ana Nikoloska, visited the Commission for Protection of Competition and held discussions with Council members Čedomir Radojčić and Siniša Milošević.

The discussions primarily focused on bilateral cooperation in the enforcement of competition protection policies and on exploring concrete avenues for enhancing collaboration, as defined by the Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation in the area of competition policy and law, signed in 2016.

The discussions also encompassed the exchange of experiences between the two institutions in the context of Serbia’s and North Macedonia’s EU accession processes, as well as the continued enhancement of regional cooperation among competition authorities.
The meeting was also attended by Rozana Vankovska, member of the North Macedonian Commission, Jovan Todorov, Head of the State Aid Department of North Macedonia’s CPC, and Mile Uzunovski, Head of the Sector within the Commission for Protection of Competition.

The Commission for Protection of Competition and public prosecutors’ offices held a joint workshop to exchange experiences regarding public procurement procedures in which violations of competition, as stipulated in Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition, were identified. This workshop was organized by the Judicial Academy as part of the USAID project aimed at improving public procurement.

The workshop presented and analyzed measures for the protection of competition and the leniency program under the Law on Protection of Competition. It also addressed restrictive agreements and the specifics of administrative procedures related to public procurement, where violations of competition as outlined in Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition were identified. Additionally, it covered prosecutorial practices concerning the conditions for criminal prosecution of offenses related to abuse in connection with public procurement under Article 228, paragraph 1, and the conclusion of restrictive agreements under Article 229, paragraph 1, of the Criminal Code and the conditions for optional exemption from penalties as stipulated in Article 229, paragraph 2, of the Criminal Code.

Following discussions at the workshop, conclusions and recommendations were adopted to define the scope and possibilities for collaboration between the Commission for Protection of Competition and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The workshop was attended by public prosecutors from Belgrade, Niš, Novi Sad, and Kraljevo, as well as representatives from the Commission for Protection of Competition.