Improvements to the competition law and policy in the Republic of Serbia in the context of the preparation of a new legal framework governing this specific area was the topic of discussion at the meeting between the Commission for Protection of Competition and companies, members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia.

On the occasion, President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Dr Miloje Obradović, together with Čedomir Radojčić, CPC Council member, and Gordana Lukić, Head of the Merger Investigation Division, who are otherwise members of the Working Group for drafting new competition act, has presented to the audience details on the motivation and key directions of development of future legal solutions.

It is established that a new legal framework governing competition policy is necessary against the background of continued harmonization with the EU Acquis, but also for the strengthening of current institutional capacities of the Commission for Protection of Competition and efficiency of enforcement mechanisms in light of securing a level playing field and further enhancement of legal certainty of undertakings. It is underlined that this is the first time that all relevant stakeholders are taking part in the drafting of a new regulation.

The Commission for Protection of Competition has conducted an inquiry into competitive conditions on the cement production and sales market in the territory of the Republic of Serbia for the period 2014-2017. For the inquiry-related purposes, the Gray (Portland) cement market is identified as the relevant product market. The primary objective of this inquiry was to look into the structure and dynamics of competition on the market concerned.

Within the Gray (Portland) cement market, the Commission has specifically analyzed the production, import, export, and wholesale segments.

The inquiry used data provided by the Ministry of Finance-Customs Administration on the cement import and export, publicly available data of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia on the Grey cement production and sales, as well as data provided by undertakings, cement manufacturers and importers, namely: CRH (Srbija) d.o.o. from Popovac, Lafarge beočinska fabrika cementa d.o.o. from Beočin, “TITAN” d.o.o. from Kosjerić, CEMEX SRB DOO from Niš, and NEXE BETON DOO NOVI SAD from Veternik.

The Commission hereby expresses its gratitude to all undertakings that have regularly submitted the requested data during the inquiry drafting process, and also calls all undertakings and other members of the expert public to send their commentaries to the report, to the following email address: office.kzk@kzk.gov.rs, with annotation: The commentary to the cement market inquiry.

Considering the cement industry significance for the development of civil engineering and overall industrial development, as well as conclusions of this inquiry, the Commission will continue to monitor the behavior of this market’s undertakings with due care, and circumstances potentially indicating the infringement of the Law on Protection of Competition.

Pursuant to Article 58 of the Law on Protection of Competition, the Commission for Protection of Competition hereby publishes the Notice of Filing of the Proposal of Commitments, which companies VISA Incorporated, VISA International Service Association and VISA CEMEA Holdings Limited as legal entities representing the VISA payment organization, are voluntarily willing to undertake in order to eliminate possible infringement of competition, with a call inviting all interested parties to submit commentaries, views and opinions in writing with reference to the commitments proposed.

President of the Commission for Protection of Competition Dr Miloje Obradović has received a visit from the EBRD’s new Director for the Western Balkans, Zsuzsanna Hargitai.

Dr Obradović updated Director Hargitai on the Commission’s activities to date, as well as plans directed at advancing the competition policy in our country. During the talks, the Commission President has specifically underlined the benefits for the Commission from the existing cooperation with the EBRD. He has also informed the interlocutor of the status of currently implemented project “Capacity Building for the Serbian Commission for Protection of Competition”, supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The EBRD Director for the Western Balkans has underlined that this international institution has a good cooperation with the Commission, and that the aim is to further improve it and provide a support to reforms in the light of Serbia’s EU accession perspective.

It is concluded that both institutions should place additional efforts in the coming period in order to strengthen competition policy in the Republic of Serbia with a view to advancing our country’s business environment.

The Commission for Protection of Competition has instituted two proceedings against seven undertakings who have participated in a public procurement procedure published by PE „Elektroprivreda Srbije” in two groups of bidders. The parties in the proceedings have concluded joint bidding agreements relating to the public procurement whose subject was the provision of hauling services for the remaining equipment of used excavator and stacker from FR Germany to the Republic of Serbia.

One of the proceedings is instituted against companies Bora Kečić – specijalni transporti d.o.o. Beograd, Union Šped d.o.o. Beograd and Bata d.o.o. Trešnjevac (Kanjiža), and the other against companies Bora Kečić – vangabaritni transporti d.o.o. Beograd, Preduzeće za puteve Kragujevac d.o.o. Kragujevac, Transportšped d.o.o. Beograd and Agrorit d.o.o. Melenci (Zrenjanin).

All persons in possession of data, documents or other relevant information which could contribute to the accurate fact-finding in these proceedings are called upon to submit said to the Commission for Protection of Competition to the address 25/IV Savska St., Belgrade

The Commission for Protection of Competition has organized a public debate in Kragujevac dedicated to examining potential solutions towards the improvement of competition policy and law in the Republic of Serbia.

Professors of the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Economics of the Universities of Kragujevac, Niš and Novi Sad, Dr Milan Kostić, Prof Dr Boban Stojanović and Dr Sandra Fišer-Šobot, respectively, took part in the panel discussion, as well as representatives of the City of Kragujevac, companies and business clusters from the Region of Šumadija.

Gordana Lukić, member of the Working Group on drafting new competition act and Head of the Merger Investigation Division, began by welcoming the audience and underlying that the new legal framework governing competition policy should enable the improvement of procedural rights of the parties in specific administrative procedures initiated before the Commission, with due regard for specificities of the proceedings from that area, and in particular for the need for economy and efficiency.

It is established that a new legal framework governing competition policy is needed, both against the background of continued harmonization against EU acquis, and on account of strengthening the existing institutional capacity of the Commission for Protection of Competition. It is also underlined that this is the first time that all relevant stakeholders are taking part in drafting new regulation, specifying that besides representatives of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications and experts from the Ministries of Economy, Justice, Public Administration and the Commission for Protection of Competition, the Working Group is comprised of representatives from numerous associations of undertakings as well.

The public debate is organized as part of the project “Increasing economic growth through support to the promotion of competition policy”, supported by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Further three more public debates are planned, to be held in Niš, Novi Sad and Belgrade.

President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Dr Miloje Obradović, gave a keynote address at the “Competition and Personal Data Protection” conference, traditionally held by the Law Firm Karanović & Partners and the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.

This year’s conference was focused on the experiences in competition law enforcement in the context of interplay between the competition law enforcement and economics, as seen through the prism of Serbian and EU experiences, state aid control, as well as on the implementation of new legal solutions governing personal data protection.

Dr Obradović underlined, inter alia, that the contribution of effective competition policy and law enforcement in promoting economic growth and well-being of citizens of the Republic of Serbia remains challenging, but that the Commission is fully aware of the importance of its mission and assigned tasks.

One of the conference’s panelists was Marko Obradović, CPC Council member, who informed the audience about the Commission’s plans and perspectives against the background of competition policy improvement in the Republic of Serbia.

By participating at the inaugural meeting, the Commission for Protection of Competition has supported the start of operations of the Corporate Compliance Association. The Association gathers companies from various industries opened to further advance their related know-hows and more efficiently harmonize respective business operations against the current regulatory framework.

It is in the interest of the Commission to advocate and promote harmonization of business operations of undertakings against competition rules, since such conduct correspondingly reduces the risk of infringing competition which occurs, inter alia, also due to the fact that companies lack practices harmonized against competition rules and regulations, said Dr Miloje Obradović, President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, in its opening speech given at the inaugural meeting.

The compliance also affects the growth of business in full and complete conformity with competition rules, and likewise enables the internal identification of potential anticompetitive behaviors. Since the prevention of such adverse consequences is among the primary objectives of the Corporate Compliance Association, the Commission for Protection of Competition strongly supports its establishment and operations, underlined Dr Obradović.

Within the framework of the Association’s inaugural meeting, a panel discussion was held on “Why is corporate compliance important for each of us?”. The goal of this panel session, where Čedomir Radojčić, CPC Council member, has taken part as well, was to raise the level of awareness on the importance of this topic by defining the purpose and meaning of corporate compliance, but also to present concrete examples on its implementation in specific business operations of various undertakings.

Representatives of undertakings involved in relevant corporate compliance-related activities also took an active role during the panel session, as well as representatives of the private and public sector, the Association of Serbian Banks and the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law.

In cooperation with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and the Public Policy Secretariat of the Republic of Serbia, the Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia has held a two-day seminar „Regulatory Impact Analysis on Markets and Competition“.

The principal goal of this seminar was to provide support to representatives of the Serbian Government institutions to further improve the implementation of a regulatory impact analysis towards establishing and assessing potential market restrictions, and improving regulatory quality and effectiveness. The seminar also served as a platform showcasing international experiences on the integration of competition policy principles into drafted regulations.

The seminar participants were able to hear from Marijana Mišković-Vukašinović, CPC Council member, Bojana Tošić, Acting Director of the Public Policy Secretariat of the Republic of Serbia, Maciej Drozd, WB economist, as well as from Eugeniu Osmochescu, WB Team leader.

During panel sessions, Marko Obradović, CPC Council member, gave a well-perceived presentation on the Commission’s respective experiences, titled “How the Commission for Protection of Competition and the Public Policy Secretariat of the Republic of Serbia promote drafting regulations in support of businesses and competition”, while Dr Veljko Milutinović, CPC Council member, spoke on the topic “Rules reinforcing dominance or barriers to entry”. Representatives of the Mexican Federal Competition Commission and the National Regulatory Improvement Commission, Rodrigo Rios and Francisco Parra, respectively, have presented Mexico’s experiences gained in their efforts to accomplish regulatory framework harmonization against competition principles. Otherwise, Mexico is considered to be one of the global leaders in this particular area. Furthermore, WB Chief Economist, Tania Begazo, has presented examples encountered by this international institution in their attempts to exert an influence via numerous globally implemented projects focused on passing of regulations not restrictive to competition.

The second day of this seminar was organized as an interactive workshop, serving as a platform for the exchange of experiences gained from ensuring the inclusion of competition provisions into regulations. Representatives of the Mexican Federal Competition Commission and the National Regulatory Improvement Commission have presented in more detail the tools used in their regular practice.

This event is organized as a part of the Serbia Investment Climate Project, implemented by the International Finance Corporation in cooperation with the UK Good Governance Fund and the British Embassy in Belgrade.

The Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia will host the annual 2020 ACE Conference (Association of Competition Economics) in Belgrade. This decision was made during last week’s conference held in Bologna, Italy.

With the notable participation achieved this year also, designated representatives of the Serbian competition authority, Dr Siniša Milošević, Head of the Economic Analyses Division and Jelena Popović-Markopulos, Senior Advisor at the Economic Analyses Division, have been provided with an opportunity to present a Commission’s case study before 276 participants, European and other international competition economists. The manner in which the economic expertise is used in the presented case is recognized as notable, thus placing Serbia among nine other countries to present their case studies during the Conference.

As every year, the 2018 Annual ACE conference in Bologna has gathered numerous representatives of European competition authorities, reputable consulting firms and academia, providing them with an opportunity to exchange respective experiences concerning the assessment of competition and consumer protection authorities’ operating efficiencies.

Since its creation in 2003, the main activity of ACE is the annual conference that brings together competition economists.

The Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia perceives this announcement on the selection of the host authority as an additional recognition of the results achieved during the last couple of years in advancing economic expert opinions, consequently reflecting on the quality of its enacted decisions.