An international conference on the implementation of competition policy and consumer protection was held in Georgia on November 16 and 17, 2022, in which the Commission for the Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia participated.

The two-day event was jointly organized by the Georgian National Competition Agency, the National Bank of Georgia, the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission, the National Communications Commission, and the Insurance State Supervision Service of Georgia.

The conference was attended by more than 15 delegations of competition protection bodies from different countries, domestic and international experts, representatives of public agencies, the academic community, international organizations and the business sector. The meeting discussed competition law mechanisms, consumer rights protection, cases and activities carried out by competition protection bodies and regulatory agencies.

The parallel session topic also covered: Competition policy and sustainable development; Competition policy on regulated markets/interagency cooperation; Indirect mechanisms of application of the Law on Protection of Competition (Advocacy); Refusal of business as a form of abuse (Essential Facility); etc.

The Commission’s delegation consisted of: Council member Miroslava Đošić, Head of the Sector for Determination of Competition Infringements Marina Joksimović and Head of the Sector for Normative – Legal, Personnel and General Affairs Milica Stanković.

The Commission for Protection of Competition in cooperation with the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC) presented to market participants new Guidelines for the development of business compliance programs with regulations on competition protection in all major cities in Serbia.

Presentation in the Regional Chamber of Commerce of the South Banat administrative region in Novi Sad, third in a row, was held as a thematic meeting of the Parliament of the businessmen in an extended attendance related to the topic “Business compliance programs with rules on competition protection”.

Čedomir Radojčić, member of the council of the Commission for Protection of Competition and Maja Dobrić, independent advisor, presented the attendees with the rules from the area of protection of competition and Guidelines for the development of business compliance programs.

In order to assist market participants in the process of adopting a compliance compliance program, the Commission briefly describes and clarifies these “steps” in these workshops and guidelines in the adoption of such programs as well as competition rules.
The next presentation of Guidelines shall be held on 15 December in Kragujevac, in the Regional Chamber of Commerce of the Šumadijski and Pomoravski administrative region.

Commission for the protection of competition initiated the procedure of examination of competition infringements, ex officio, in order to determine the existence of abuse of a dominant position, in the sense of Article 16 of the Law on the Protection of Competition against the company Glovoapp Tecchnology doo Beograd (Glovo) and carried out dawn raids in its premises.

During the analysis of the conditions of competition in the field of digital platforms for mediating the sale and delivery of mainly restaurant food and other products, the Commission observed contractual provisions in the contracts concluded by Glovo with its partners, which could result in the exclusion or difficulty of the expansion of other competitive platforms, as well as provisions that may result in discrimination of partners through the application of unequal business conditions, all of which constitutes an abuse of a dominant position.

Namely, certain contracts and general conditions of business with partners contain a prescribed fee that the partner is obliged to pay if it enters into similar partnerships with other platforms, i.e. high amounts are offered in the form of investment for marketing, with the obligation to return the amount if cooperation with another platform is established.

The application of unequal business conditions to the same agreements with different market participants is primarily reflected in the form of different commissions to different partners, and depending on whether they cooperate only with Glovo or with competing platforms.

Including such exclusivity clauses in contracts with partners or various forms of incentives or pressures to maintain exclusivity, could exclude competitors from the market or reduce their ability to compete, which could ultimately lead to higher prices, less choice and lower quality offers, all to the detriment of consumers.

After taking over the Donesi platform in 2021, the company Glovo significantly expanded its business network and drastically increased its market share and gained a dominant position, which also changed the structure of this market. As such, it has a special responsibility in relation to the actions it undertakes in the market.

The Commission hereby invites all persons who have data, documents or other relevant information that can contribute to establishing the factual situation in this procedure to submit them to the address of the Commission for the Protection of Competition, 25/IV Savska Street, Belgrade.

The Commission for Protection of Competition initiated ex officio proceedings against the company ANANAS E-COMMERCE doo Beograd, for the purpose of investigating the concentration which was carried out even though it was not approved in accordance with the Law on Protection of Competition, and which had, according to the reasonable assumption, resulted from the acquisition of control by company ANANAS E-COMMERCE over the company VEBSPOT DOOEL Skopje.

In the investigation proceedings, the Commission will evaluate the criteria prescribed by the Law (Art. 19 of the Law on Protection of Competition) which determine the permissibility of a concentration, and in particular, the circumstance that the concentration under review had been implemented, but not notified, which was the obligation of market participants. The law stipulates that concentrations of market participants are allowed, unless they would significantly restrict, distort or prevent competition on the market of the Republic of Serbia, and especially if that restriction, distortion or prevention would be the result of creation or strengthening of 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 of protection of competition, that is, a measure of deconcentration.

By way of conclusion on initiation of the proceedings, all persons who possess data, documents or other relevant information which may contribute to the establishment of the correct facts in this case are invited to submit them without delay to the Commission for Protection of Competition at the address 25/IV Savska Street, Belgrade.

CPC Commission for the protection of competition in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (PKS) held the third presentation of the Guidelines for the development of a program of business compliance with regulations on the protection of competition in Niš.

In order to help market participants in the process of adopting a compliance program, the Commission, through these workshops and guidelines, briefly describes and explains certain “steps” in adopting such programs as well as competition protection rules.

The next workshop will be held on November 15 at the Regional Chamber of Commerce of the South Bačka administrative district in Novi Sad.

The Commission for Protection of Competition initiated ex officio proceedings against the company Dobergard DOO Beograd, for the purpose of investigating the concentration which was carried out even though it was not approved in accordance with the Law on Protection of Competition, and which, according to the reasonable assumption, resulted from the acquisition of control by company Dobergard over the company Sparta Security DOO and over the company Protecta Group DOO Beograd.

In the investigation proceedings, the Commission will evaluate the criteria prescribed by the Law (Art. 19 of the Law on Protection of Competition) which determine the permissibility of a concentration, and in particular, the circumstance that the concentrations under review had been implemented, but not notified, which was the obligation of market participants. The law stipulates that concentrations of market participants are allowed, unless they would significantly restrict, distort or prevent competition on the market of the Republic of Serbia, and especially if that restriction, distortion or prevention would be the result of creation or strengthening of 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 of protection of competition, that is, a measure of deconcentration.

By way of conclusions on initiation of the proceedings, all persons who possess data, documents or other relevant information which can contribute to the establishment of the correct facts in these proceedings are invited to submit them without delay to the Commission for Protection of Competition at the address 25/IV Savska Street, Belgrade.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia (CCIS) held a one-day presentation of the Guidelines for the development of a business compliance program with regulations on the protection of competition in the Regional Chamber of Commerce of Moravica and Raška District – office in Čačak.

The presentation was the second in a series that will be held throughout Serbia with the aim of familiarizing market participants with the rules in the field of competition protection and guidelines for the development of the Business Compliance Program with regulations on competition protection that the Commission published in December last year.

The current practice of the Commission for Protection of Competition shows that violations of competition often occur due to lack or insufficient knowledge of market participants. On such basis, the need to raise the level of awareness of market participants about the need and ways to comply with regulations in the field of competition was recognized.

In order to assist market participants in the process of adopting a compliance program, the Commission briefly describes and clarifies these “steps” in these workshops and guidelines in the adoption of such programs as well as competition rules.

The presentation in Čačak was attended by more than 30 representatives of market participants and the expert public. The next workshop will be held on November 1 at the Regional Chamber of Commerce of the Nišav, Pirot and Toplic administrative districts in Niš.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition initiated proceedings of investigating violation of competition ex officio against related companies Apcom from Hungary and Apcom Distribution from Belgrade due to reasonable doubt that stated companies set Apple product prices in resale in the Republic of Serbia and performed unannounced raids on four locations.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition analyzed competition status on the market of (1) mobile telephones and tablets, (2) smart watches, (3) accessories (headphones and wireless headphones), (4) smart TV boxes and (5) peripherals (keyboards and mouses), among others, for Apple products in the Republic of Serbia. On this occasion, through insight into publicly available data, it has been concluded that the prices of certain Apple products in the Republic of Serbia are unified with observed retailers of this brand, regardless of whether retailers have certain status of Apple authorized dealer or not, and regardless of sales channel, that is, whether it is classic sales in bricks and mortar stores or online sales.

Also, it has been detected that, in addition to being unified, the prices of Apple products on the market of the Republic of Serbia are higher compared to the prices in the neighboring countries, which is why Commission presumed existence of violation of competition in the form of setting resale prices in the sense of Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition, that is, that companies Apcom Distribution and Apcom from Hungary set the prices of Apple products in resale.

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.

Continuing with the work on raising awareness of the need to comply with the regulations on competition protection, the Commission prepared the Model Program of Compliance with the Regulations on Protection of Competition, which accompanies the Guidelines for developing a program of compliance with the regulations on competition protection.

The model poses a starting point for market participants who would be interested in creating a Compliance program, and contains suggestions on which elements to include in the program, how to approach the development and training, as well as which elements require special attention. The intention of such an approach is to further help market participants with facilitated application of the Guidelines and harmonization of their business.

The Commission provides this model as an example and proposal, which is not a mandatory form, in order to facilitate market participants, who decide to develop their own compliance program, to implement such a decision and implement a compliance program in their business. The Commission once again draws attention to the fact that each compliance program should be tailored to the needs of a particular company and adapted to the market or markets in which the company operates.

The Commission for Protection of Competition and the Republic Secretariat for Public Policies have jointly developed a Checklist for assessing the impact of regulations on competition.

The checklist for assessing the existence of the impact of regulations on competition is an auxiliary tool that facilitates the competent authorities, ie proposers of regulations, to correctly assess the existence of the impact of regulations on competition, ie. whether a particular proposal/draft regulation may lead to distortions of competition in the market.

If on the basis of this list it is determined that there may be such an impact, the proposal/draft regulation should be submitted to the Commission for Protection of Competition in order to obtain an opinion.
In accordance with the Law on Protection of Competition, the Commission for Protection of Competition is the only one competent to give opinions to the competent authorities on draft regulations, as well as on valid regulations that have an impact on competition on the market.

The checklist is available on the website of the Commission for Protection of Competition (in Serbian and English) and is an integral part of the Public Policy and Regulatory Impact Assessment Handbook, which is available on the website of the Republic Secretariat for Public Policy.