The Commission for the Protection of Competition initiated proceedings against the market participant, KTG Solucije d.o.o. Subotica and Eco sense d.o.o. Subotica due to the well-founded assumption that by colluding in the public procurement procedures of different clients, they violated the competition referred to in Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition.

Simultaneously with the initiation of the procedure, the authorized officials of the Commission for the Protection of Competition carried out a dawn raid at two locations and collected relevant documentation for establishing the facts in this procedure.
The Commission, through the Public Procurement Office, discovered that the company KTG Solucije, as a bidder in certain public procurement procedures, was withdrawing its bids, which is why the contracting parties concluded contracts with the second-ranked bidder, the company Eco sense, but at higher prices compared to those offered by KTG Solucije. The subjects of disputed public procurements were materials and means for maintaining the facilities’ hygiene.

Apart from discovering about the withdrawal from bids, the Commission has, by analyzing the IP addresses (Internet Protocol addresses) from which the companies KTG Solucije d.o.o. and Eco sense d.o.o. accessed the Public Procurement Portal in the said public procurement procedures, either to download tender documents or to submit bids, noted that both companies almost always accessed from identical IP addresses; The results of the analysis of the IP address indicate that both companies accessed the Public Procurement Portal almost always from the same device, which were connected through the same internet network, and possibly even from an identical device.

It was reasonably assumed that the companies KTG Solucije d.o.o. and Eco sense d.o.o., submitted bids, especially but not exclusively, in the analyzed public procurement procedures, contrary to the statements given in each individual public procurement procedure, i.e. it was reasonably assumed that the bids were not independently filed, without the agreement with other bidders, which would constitute a competition infringement, referred to in Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition.

All persons having data, documents or other relevant information that may be significant for determining the factual situation in this procedure, are hereby invited to submit them to the Commission for Protection of Competition,at 25/IV Savska Street, Belgrade.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition ex officio initiated proceedings against the company HOTELSKO, GOSTITELJSKO I TURISTIČKO PREDUZEĆE MOSKVA DOO BEOGRAD (STARI GRAD), in order to examine the concentration that was carried out even though it was not approved in accordance with the Law on the Protection of Competition, and which was, according to the founded assumptions, created by the acquisition of control by the company HOTELSKO, UGOSTITELJSKO I TURISTIČKO PREDUZEĆE MOSKVA over the operations of Hotel “Tonanti” in Vrnjačka Banja, which can represent an independent business entity.

In the examination procedure, the Commission will evaluate the criteria prescribed by the Law (Art. 19 of the Law on Protection of Competition) which determines the permissibility of the concentration, and in particular, the circumstance that it is an implemented and unreported concentration, which was the obligation of market participants. The law stipulates that concentrations of market participants are allowed, unless they would significantly limit, impair or prevent competition on the market of the Republic of Serbia, and especially if that limitation, impairment or prevention would be the result of creating or strengthening a dominant position.

The Commission will determine the important facts, evidence and other elements on which it will base its decision regarding the possible determination of a measure to protect competition, that is, a measure of deconcentration.

With the conclusion that initiated the procedure, all persons who have data, documents or other relevant information that can contribute to the establishment of the correct factual situation in this procedure are invited to submit them without delay to the Commission for the Protection of Competition at the address 25/IV Savska Street, Belgrade.

On the occasion of celebrating the Competition Day, the Commission for Protection of Competition prepared a graphical presentation, of the most important work results for the last ten years (2013 – 2022) based on its Annual Reports.

Special significance has been on the results of the three-years’ work activities carried out in the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic, which were compared to three years preceding the pandemic, to capture its impact on the Commission’s work.

The analysis showed that the Commission (starting from 2020 as the first full year of the IV Cconvocation of the Commission Council), accomplished significant results, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, with the same number of employees, compared to three previous years, as follows:

• Positive effect on the RS budget has increased by 62%.
• Number of decisions determining competition infringements which were not annulled has increased by 100%.
• Monetary amount of imposed fines in decisions whichthat were not annulled by courts has increased by 72%.
• Efficiency of imposition of competition protection measures has increased from 19% to 69%
• Number of processed merger control cases has increased by 25%.
• Number of sector inquiries has increased by 50%.
• Number of conducted dawn-raids has grown by 36%
• Work productivity of the employed staff has grown by 30%.

This instruction shall regulate in more detail the content and method of submitting a request for determining the measure of protection of data sources and/or specific data, prescribed by the provisions of Article 45 of the Law on Protection of Competition (for the purposes of this instruction: request for data protection).

Data protection implies that the protected data will not be publicly published, that is, that they will be omitted from the decisions and acts of the Commission for the Protection of Competition that are publicly published, as well as that they cannot be viewed or copied when inspecting the case files, regardless of whether they are in printed or electronic form, in Serbian or a foreign language of the original document.

Protected data shall not have the property of information of public importance in the sense of the law regulating free access to information of public importance.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, at the Second Extraordinary Session of the Thirteenth legislature, adopted the Annual Activity Report of the Commission for the Protection of Competition for the year 2021 together with the Proposal for the conclusion of the Committee for Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy as of November 4, 2022.

An overview of the Commission’s most important activities includes procedures for determining competition infringements; exemptions of restrictive agreements from prohibition, merger examination procedures; implementation of sectoral and analysis of competition conditions on individual markets, giving opinions, activities of the Commission in the EU accession process related to chapter 8; promotion of competition protection rules to the public; domestic and international cooperation, including the Commission’s activities on international projects.

Representatives of the Commission took part in a round table organized as part of the Jean Monnet Competition Law Center of Excellence project regarding the latest developments in the field of competition law and policy in the European Union and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (” Recent developments in Competition Law and Policy in EU and CEE Countries: Open issues and Challenges“) at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

The round table presented experiences and challenges in the areas of competition protection and control of state aid in Croatia, Serbia, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania, with the presence of over 50 representatives of banks, financial institutions, insurance companies and the academic community.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition has launched an ex officio competition infringement investigation against the company VAILLANT doo from Belgrade, a distributor of heating equipment of the “Vaillant” and “Protherm” brands, due to the well-founded suspicion that the said company determines the prices of the said brands for resale in the Republic Serbia, and carried out a dawn raid at its premises.

The Commission compared the wholesale and retail prices from the price list of Vaillant with the retail prices displayed on the websites of certain authorized distributors and determined that they are identical, both among all of the observed retailers, and against the prices from the price list available on the website of Vaillant. Moreover, based on the available data, the company Vaillant is not present on the retail market of products of the “Vaillant” and “Protherm” brands, but only through its distributors.

Based on the analysis and evaluation of the collected data, the Commission reasonably assumed the existence of competition infringement, in the sense of Article 10 of the Law, in the form of an illegal restrictive agreement, by which the company Vaillant determines the prices of the products of the “Vaillant” and “Protherm” brands for resale, i.e. to its distributors.

All persons having data, documents or other relevant information that can contribute to establishing the factual situation in this procedure are hereby invited to submit them at the address of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Savska 25 / IV, Belgrade.

As part of the continuation of the cooperation of the Commission for the Protection of Competition with the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCC), on spreading awareness of the need to harmonize business operations with regulations on competition protection, on the website of the Chamber, Business in accordance with the rules of competition, Guidelines for the preparation of the business compliance program with the regulations on competition protection are available, as well as the Model of the business compliance program with the regulations on competition protection that follows the Guidelines.

In addition to the Guidelines and Models, there are lists for identifying illegal conduct, brochures in pdf format, presentations used at workshops in cooperation with the Chamber in the course of 2022, as well as educational video materials aimed at familiarizing market participants with the rules of competition protection. Such availability of materials should enable market participants to assess and reduce their exposure to the risks of violations of the Law on Protection of Competition in their operations.

The past practice of the Commission shows that competition violations often occur due to lack or insufficient knowledge of market participants. Therefore, the need to raise the level of awareness among market participants about the necessity and ways to comply one’s business with regulations in the field of competition protection, was recognized.