President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Dr Miloje Obradović, held a discussion with Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia, Ms. Vera Nikolić Dimić.

Dr Obradović introduced his guest with present activities, along with plans of the Commission aimed at advancing competition policy in Serbia. Particular emphasis was placed on details concerning initiated activities of drafting the new competition policy legislative act.

During the talks, parties have jointly assessed as a very good solution to actively involve representatives of the expert public, as well as domestic and foreign companies operating in Serbia in creating the new Law on Protection of Competition.

The parties have also emphasized the importance of further intensification of cooperation in the field of additional education of all business entities in Serbia concerning competition law and policy. To that end and as agreed, the AmCham will be involved in all activities of the Commission aimed at promoting competition policy.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia has over 190 members. It is part of the network of American Chambers of Commerce in Europe, composed of 45 chambers, with over 16,000 member companies that combinedly employ more than four million persons in Europe.

Commission for Protection of Competition has prepared the Draft regulation on technology transfer agreements exempt from the prohibition, to be submitted to the Government of the Republic of Serbia for consideration and enactment, in accordance with competences stipulated by the Law on Protection of Competition.

The intent of the Commission is that new regulation will regulate conditions pertaining to the exemption of technology transfer agreements from prohibition, by taking into consideration specificities of the sector concerned, and the fact that current regulations do not regulate the exemption of these kind of agreements.

The Commission calls all undertakings, business associations, law offices, expert public and all other interested parties that from September 12-27, 2017, submit to the Commission their comments and opinions in reference to the text of the Draft regulation via e-mail address komentar@kzk.gov.rs.

Commission for Protection of Competition has prepared the Draft regulation on agreements between undertakings operating in the rail, road and inland waterways transport sector exempt from the prohibition, to be submitted to the Government of the Republic of Serbia for consideration and enactment, in accordance with competences stipulated by the Law on Protection of Competition.

The intent of the Commission is that this new regulation will regulate conditions pertaining to the exemption of agreements from prohibition in the rail and road transport and inland waterways transport sectors, by taking into consideration specificities of the transport sector which are not regulated by the general competition policy regulations.

The Commission calls all undertakings, business associations, law offices, expert public and all other interested parties that from September 12-27, 2017, submit to the Commission their comments and opinions in reference to the text of the Draft regulation via e-mail address komentar@kzk.gov.rs.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia announced an active participation in all activities with reference to drafting of the new law on protection of competition, instituted at the beginning of this year by the Commission for Protection of Competition.

Following the announcement by the Commission for Protection of Competition on the legislative advancing efforts toward the current Law on Protection of Competition, as per regular procedure regulating the CCIS legislative activities, we have addressed our members with a proposal to submit their comments to the current Law on Protection of Competition toward bringing together related guidelines and positions of the commercial sector pertaining to the Law. We emphasize that when addressing our members on the matter, we have underlined the fact concerning the established cooperation between the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia and the Commission for Protection of Competition, the Memorandum on cooperation between two institutions in effect, and have clearly presented our proposal that gathered positions of the CCIS members will be forwarded to the Commission – states in the letter sent by Mr. Marko Čadež, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, addressed to Dr. Miloje Obradović, President of the Commission for Protection of Competition.

President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Dr. Miloje Obradović, received a visit from Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Serbia, H.E. Dae Jong Yoo.

Dr. Obradović introduced Ambassador Yoo with competences of the Commission for Protection of Competition and presented activities implemented up to date, along with plans aimed at advancing and advocating competition policy in Serbia.

President of the Commission also expressed an aspiration that the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Belgrade would be able to convey a substantial interest of the Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia for intensification of cooperation with the Korea Fair Trade Commission, as one of the most efficient competition enforcement agency in the world.

Korean Ambassador thanked for the invitation and suggested initiation of a concrete cooperation, implemented by hiring an expert from the Korean competition authority to give competition policy related presentations during the workshop organized in Belgrade by the end of this year.

Also, His Excellency expressed a pleasure concerning instituted initiative of the Commission for Protection of Competition that might result in a more intensive cooperation and exchange of experiences between two authorities, with the objective of advancing economic environment in Serbia.

Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, as the authorized legislator, and the Commission for Protection of Competition have instituted drafting of the new regulation governing competition policy. Following drafting procedure, and in the same manner as when preparing the Regulation on the content and manner of submitting notification on concentration, the Commission will call all interested parties to submit related proposals and suggestions, so that new legal solutions could be even more approximated, not only to the EU acquis, but adjusted to the specificities of markets operating on the territory of the Republic of Serbia. The Commission expects cooperation with the academic and expert public, as well as business community representatives in the widest sense of the word, including law offices and undertakings. In this respect, the Commission expresses its familiarity with the content of statements from the document written in English language “Call to action – Protection of free competition”, prepared by an individual law office and the Association for Protection of Constitutionality and Legitimacy. Although the purpose of this notice is not to debate with the authors, but to announce drafting of the new law, however, considering that occurrence of this document coincides with the initiation of new legislative drafting, and given that mentioned text contains incorrect and blanket statements on the Law on Protection of Competition and work of the Commission, it is assessed that toward proper informing the public, it is necessary to react with regard to particular statements. The above-mentioned document assesses the work of the Commission as arbitrary, without judicial control, with particular acts taken during the proceedings characterized as the breach of basic human rights, while the Law per se is evaluated as unconstitutional, thus the call-to-action relates to its abrogation and need to enact new regulation that would be constituted under the Constitution. Without prejudice to interpret provisions of the Code of Professional Ethics for Attorneys-at-law, the Commission nevertheless reminds that the aforementioned Code, inter alia, determines that the manner in which an attorney at law communicates with the state authorities reflects the legal culture and respect for the legal profession, and that in the context of this relation, attorney-at-law should communicate in a temperate and polite manner. The aforementioned Code also determines that written motions and oral addresses should be clear, concise, appropriate and logical, while any criticism an attorney-at-law addresses to the court, other state authorities and representatives thereof must not be communicated in an inappropriate or offensive manner. Considering the aforementioned aspects, and toward preserving the reputation and standards of professional conduct, the Commission will address the Bar Association of Serbia with the request to assess infringement of the Code. The Commission is not surprised by the fact that authors refer to the abrogation of the Law on Protection of Competition as unconstitutional, as such attempts are not new, however, the manner in which such presentation is given, is perceived as inappropriate in every aspect.

We are also informed on the submission of the related document to undertakings which, if insufficiently familiarized with the Law on Protection of Competition and work of the Commission, could be mislead as to the competencies and authorities of the Commission, in addition to the rights stipulated by the Law.

Finally, regardless of the initiative claiming that future amendments to the Law on Protection of Competition will further consolidate “existing unconstitutional provisions”, which we assess as absolutely unacceptable, and in the light of previous positive experiences, the Commission expects to establish cooperation with all interested parties during the legislative drafting process pertaining to the new law on protection of competition.

Representative of the Commission for Protection of Competition Vladimir Antonijević, Senior Advisor in the Competition Infringements Division, has attended a three-week professional development program in Japan, provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency – JICA in cooperation with the Japan Fair Trade Commission – JFTC.

The objective of this professional development seminar was to advance the implementation of competition law and policy, in addition to enabling the use of acquired know-hows toward more efficient promotion of competitive environment on the markets of program participating countries. The professional development program has encompassed all segments of competition law and policy, including both theoretical and practical implementation.

This year’s professional development program has gathered 22 representatives of competition authorities from 17 countries, while JICA has organized this type of seminars since 1994.

Commission for Protection of Competition has organized for the first time, a summer internship program intended for competition policy-related professional development of graduate and postgraduate students of law and economic studies from Universities of Belgrade, Kragujevac and Niš.

A series of lectures and workshops will be held during the internship program, enabling students to familiarize with competences and working methods of the Commission, gain basic knowledge on competition infringement detection methods, market concentration investigation methodology and preparation of economic inquiries, along with other operational aspects of this institution, including cooperation with other national competition authorities, international and domestic organizations, as well as competition advocacy tools used by the Commission.

It is expected that initiation of student internship program implementation in the Commission will contribute to raising levels of students’ competition policy theoretical knowledge and related practical implementation, as well as for the promotion of competition policy in the academic community.

Internship program enabling professional development and practical training of students in the competition policy and law area will be implemented throughout the month, and is organized pursuant to previously signed memoranda on cooperation between the Commission and aforementioned institutions.

Internship program is organized and headed by dr Siniša Milošević, Head of Economic Analysis Division.

Based on submitted information, the Commission for Protection of Competition has instituted proceedings ex officio for investigating concentration created by acquisition of individual control on the part of company „Prointer IT Solutions and Services“ LLC Beograd, over company “Alti” LLC Čačak.

In the course of investigation procedure is established that the concentration is implemented without received prior approval of the Commission, thus violating the Law on Protection of Competition, and consequently resulting in determining measure for protection of competition against company „Prointer IT Solutions and Services“ LLC in the amount of 6.7 million dinars.

When determining the amount of related measure, the Commission has considered that said concentration would not cause adverse consequences and would be approved, if notified pursuant to legal obligation.

Member of the Council of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Marko Obradović, and Dean of the Faculty of Economics in Niš, Prof. dr sc. Jadranka Đurović Todorović, have signed the Memorandum on Cooperation between the Commission for Protection of Competition and the Faculty of Economics in Niš.

Memorandum on Cooperation defines the establishment of expert and educational cooperation between these two institutions in the competition policy area via organization of seminars, guest lecture series of the Commission’s experts, joint thematic workshops at the Institute of the Faculty of Economics in Niš, establishing academic internship programs and joint publishing activities in the competition policy area.

Signed document will enable joint activities to be placed on the promotion of competition policy and raising awareness of its significance within the academic and broader general public, to be achieved in cooperation with the Business Cooperation Center of Niš, in addition to introducing an academic course in the field of competition policy as an elective for Masters level students.

Memorandum on Cooperation with the Faculty of Economics in Niš is the fourth such agreement of the Commission signed with the academic community representatives.