Following the sector inquiry into the retail sale in non-specialized stores with food, beverages and tobacco predominating for the period 2017-2018 and the analysis of obtained agreements entered into by suppliers of individual goods and their buyers, the Commission for Protection of Competition instituted antitrust investigation proceedings against 23 undertakings.

Based on reasonable grounds for believing that the parties have entered into a restrictive agreement referred to in Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition, that is, agreements containing the resale price maintenance clauses, the Commission for Protection of Competition instituted proceedings against two suppliers – AD Imlek and Apatinska pivara, and buyers – food retailers.

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

The Commission for Protection of Competition instituted proceedings against undertakings, companies „MITECO“ – Kneževac, „YUNIRISK“ – Beograd, „MODEKOLO“ – Beograd, „BREM GROUP“ – Beograd, and „KEMIS“ – Valjevo, based on a reasonable belief that the said parties have committed a competition law infringement referred to in Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition, by engaging in collusive joint bidding agreements in a public procurement announced by the Ministry of Environmental Protection as the Contracting Authority.

In parallel to instituting proceedings, authorized officials of the Commission for Protection of Competition have conducted a dawn raid in five locations and collected relevant documentation necessary to establish facts in the proceedings.
All persons are invited to submit data, documents or other relevant information in their possession that could contribute to the accurate fact-finding in this proceeding to the Commission for Protection of Competition, 25 Savska St., 4th Floor, Belgrade.

The Commission for Protection of Competition conducted a sector inquiry into the retail sale in non-specialized stores with food, beverages and tobacco predominating, covering a two-year period (2017-2018). The objective of the inquiry was to establish relations between market competitors in the retail sale in non-specialized stores with food, beverages and tobacco predominating in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, in terms of assessing their market share and relative power, as well as to analyze relations between suppliers and selected trade chains with respect to individual product categories.

The recommendations provided by the Commission constitute an integral part of the report, in which the Commission expressed a need for a public trade register that would considerably facilitate the monitoring of this trade segment in the coming period, while also reiterating the importance of cooperation with other government authorities in terms of submitting all relevant legislation and regulations for the provision of legal opinions.

The Commission wishes to express its gratitude to all undertakings for their timely and proper submission of requested data during the inquiry drafting process, and concomitantly invites all undertakings and other members of the expert public to submit their commentaries to the report, as well as to give proposals and suggestions for the follow-up reports, no later than February 28, 2020, to the email address: office.kzk@kzk.gov.rs, with the subject line: Comments to the sector inquiry into retail market.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 21(1/6) of the Law on Protection of Competition, the Commission for Protection of Competition conducted an inquiry into competitive conditions in the sunflower production and sales market in the territory of the Republic of Serbia for the period 2016-2018.

The purpose of the inquiry was to gain an understanding of the sunflower production and sales market, from a market structure perspective and by observing the market shares of individual market participants, as well as to analyze the trends in sunflower purchase prices during the period observed. The inquiry covered the data on production, purchase, import, and export of sunflower seeds, as well as on the export and import of raw and refined sunflower oil during the period observed.

The inquiry used data provided by the Ministry of Finance – Customs Administration on the import and export of sunflower and sunflower oil, in addition to publicly available information provided by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia on the sunflower and sunflower oil production, as well as information provided by undertakings – sunflower buyers and producers, namely: Dijamant AD from Zrenjanin, Vital AD from Vrbas, Sunce AD from Sombor, Banat AD from Nova Crnja, Victoriaoil AD from Šid, Bimal Trading doo from Belgrade, and Bimal Agri doo from Bečej.

The Commission wishes to express its gratitude to all undertakings for their timely and proper submission of requested data during the inquiry drafting process, and concomitantly invites all undertakings and other members of the expert public to submit their commentaries to the report, to the email address: office.kzk@kzk.gov.rs, with the subject line: Comments to the inquiry into sunflower market.

Noting the importance of this crop for the development of food industry and the overall industrial development, as well as the conclusions of this inquiry, the Commission will put particular emphasis on due-diligence measures in the future in order to monitor the behavior of undertakings and identify particular circumstances prevailing in this market which might indicate any violation of the Law on Protection of Competition.

Pursuant to Article 47 of the Law on Protection of Competition, the Commission for Protection of Competition conducted the ninth sector inquiry into the oil derivatives retail market. The objective of the sector inquiry was to establish the relations between main competitors operating in the oil derivatives retail market in 2018 and to assess their market shares and relative market power.

The inquiry was based on a representative sample of 19 business entities operating in the oil derivatives retail domain and whose petrol stations account for 58% of the total number of petrol stations in Serbia.

The conclusions derived from such an analysis allowing for, inter alia, an overview of trends both in the oil production and refining market and the oil derivatives retail market, in addition to the structure and retail price trends of selected oil derivatives, are an integral part of the report.

The Commission assessed the degree of compliance with recommendations provided in the previous reports and reiterated the importance of establishing a precise statistical record on the oil and oil derivatives and the importance of cooperation with other competent institutions towards creating a legal and business environment favorable to free competition in the market.

The Commission hereby expresses its gratitude to all undertakings that have regularly submitted the requested data during the inquiry drafting process, and also invites undertakings and other members of the expert public to send their commentaries to the report via e-mail to: office.kzk@kzk.gov.rs, with annotation: Commentary to the Sector inquiry into the oil and oil derivatives market.

At the Fifth Sitting of the Second Regular Session held on November 14, 2019, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Decision on the Election of the President and three Council members of the Commission for Protection of Competition.

The new Commission President is Nebojša Perić, and three Council members are Miroslava Đošić, Danijela Bokan, and dr Siniša Milošević. All candidates are elected at the proposal of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy, for a five-year term.

The Decision on the Appointment is published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia No. 81 of November 15, 2019.

In cooperation with the Japan Fair Trade Commission, the Commission for Protection of Competition organized seminars for students enrolled in undergraduate, master, and doctoral academic studies in universities in Belgrade, Novi Sad, and Niš.

The keynote addresses during the first seminar are given by H.E. Junichi Maruyama, Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Serbia, and Slobodan Vuksanović, Director of the Museum of Pedagogy, followed by expert presentations provided by Gordana Bulatović, Head of the Division for Competition Advocacy and International Affairs, Nina Vasić, Senior Advisor at the Division for Competition Advocacy and International Affairs, Takujiro Kono, Head of the Strategic Planning Division, JFTC, and Atsushi Nakahata, Head of the International Affairs Division, JFTC.

The academics were given an opportunity to learn about fundamental principles of competition policy, in addition to a number of concrete examples drawn from the practice illustrating the fight against cartels and other forms of anti-competitive behaviors.
By organizing such seminars, the Commission for Protection of Competition wishes to reaffirm the interest and commitment of students for competition policy in their scholarly works and to provide support to academics in pursuing their future professional careers in antitrust.

The seminars are held at the Museum of Pedagogy in Belgrade, and Novi Sad and Niš University Rectorates.

The Embassy of Japan in Belgrade and the Japan International Cooperation Agency provided support towards organizing the seminars.

The Foreign Investors Council presented the White Book 2019, a publication published yearly that provides an overview of the business environment, in addition to recommendations for its improvement from the investors’ perspective.

Foreign investors this year also remarked the significant progress achieved in the work of the Commission for Protection of Competition, in addition to the increased scope of the Commission’s activities in various fields of its competence, as well as its readiness to use complex mechanisms provided for by the Law.

The document commended the Commission’s efforts to more intensely use advanced economic analysis in inquiries into competition infringements and complex mergers, as well as its advance use of new econometric software to increase the quality of economic analysis in cases before the Commission.

This year’s White Book also states: “In 2018, the Commission continued making progress in competition advocacy and public relations. The Commission regularly informs the public on its activities and publishes a great majority of its decisions on its official website. However, it is noticeable that the Commission does not publish all the decisions in relevant areas or that it publishes them with significant delays, which does not contribute to either transparency or legal certainty. The Commission published on its website the Guidelines on Rights and Obligations of the Parties during Dawn Raids, as well as the Leniency Policy Leaflet. This positive development concerning competition advocacy is important as it contributes to the overall improvement of the current legal framework and to better understanding on the part of the general public and the media of competition rules and activities and the importance of the Commission’s role.”

The investors’ reiterated recommendations to the Commission are to proceed with the adoption of regulations governing particular categories of key importance for the completion of the competition regulatory framework, issue publications of the relevant definitions of product markets, and produce clear guidelines and instructions containing the manner of application of certain provisions of the Law, aimed at increasing the transparency and legal certainty.

In cooperation with the Italian partners under the Twinning project “Further Development of Protection of Competition in Serbia”, the Commission for Protection of Competition translated into Serbian the OECD Guidelines for Fighting Bid Rigging in Public Procurement.

The Guidelines offer a comprehensive overview of potential strategies employed by contracting authorities to prevent bid rigging by one or more bidders.