The Commission for Protection of Competition is publishing Draft commitments that the party in proceedings, the PUC “Infostan Tehnologije” from Belgrade is prepared to voluntarily assume for the removal of possible competition infringements, with the conditions and deadlines for the fulfillment of proposed measures. Also, the Commission calls upon all interested parties to submit written suggestions, views and opinions referring to draft commitments, in written form within 20 days from the announcement of notification.

On October 26, 2015, the Commission for Protection of Competition initiated proceeding ex officio against PUC “Infostan” for investigation of competition infringement pursuant to Article 16 of the Law on Protection of Competition (abuse of a dominant position).

On June 30, 2016, pursuant to the provisions of Article 58 of the Law on Protection of Competition (hereinafter: the Law), the party in proceeding – “Infostan”, submitted a proposal on suspension of proceeding with the precise listing of commitments – measures that is ready to voluntarily take for the removal of possible competition infringements, with the conditions and deadlines for execution of proposed measures.

The Commission determined the “Infostan Tehnologije” said application to be admissible, timely and submitted by the authorized party.

Pursuant to Article 58, Paragraph 1 of the Law, the Commission may pass a resolution on suspension of competition infringement procedure relating to issuing measure stipulated under Article 59 of the Law, if the party, based on the content of conclusion on the initiation of proceeding, i.e. facts determined during the proceeding, submits a draft commitments that is ready to voluntarily execute in order to eliminate possible competition infringements, with the conditions and deadlines for the fulfillment of listed measures.

Paragraph 2 of the said article of the Law prescribes a deadline in which party in the proceeding may present such proposal.

Commission for Protection of Competition determined a measure of procedural penalty i.e. fine to the market participant, company “MB-Gas OIL”, Belgrade, in the amount of 12,000 euros for failure to act upon the Request of the Commission ordering provision of information dated February 26 of this year. Such Request obliged the mentioned company to submit data necessary for sector inquiry of the state of competition in the market of whole and retail sale of oil derivatives in the Republic of Serbia.

Given that the deadline for submission of the required data expired on March 7, 2016, and that this company did not contact the Commission with a request to extend the deadline for submission of data, or otherwise reported to Commission the reasons for its failure to act upon the Request of the Commission, the Council of the Commission issued a decision on determination of measure of procedural penalty. The amount of money of procedural penalty i.e. fine, is fixed at 500 euros for each day of non-compliance with the Request of the Commission.

Procedural penalty in the amount of 500 to 5,000 euros for each day of conduct contrary to the order of the Commission, or non-compliance with its order, is defined by the provisions of Article 70 of the Law on Protection of Competition. Company ”MB-Gas OIL” must pay stated amount within two months from the date of the decision, under the threat of forced execution. The amount of money of the measure of procedural penalty i.e. fine shall be paid to the account of budget of the Republic of Serbia.

In determining the amount of procedural penalty, i.e. fine, the Commission shall apply the criteria prescribed by the Law on Protection of Competition, Regulation on criteria for determining te amount to be paid on the basis of measure for protection of competition and procedural penalty, manner and deadlines for payment and conditions for determining these measures, as well as Guidelines for the implementation of that Regulation, that was passed by the Council of the Commission on May 19, 2011. The Law on Protection of Competition specifies that procedural penalty i.e. fine cannot be more than ten percent of the total amount of turnover calculated in the manner provided by the Law.

On the occassion of marking a decade of work of the Commission, the guest of the Commission was William Kovacic, Professor at the University of George Washington and Director of the Competition and Market Agency of the United Kingdom (CMA), one of the leading experts on the issues of protection of competition in the world.

Prof. Kovacic held a very informative lecture for employees of the Commission about developments and experiences, but also challenges for competition authorities around the world.

Prof. Kovacic was also a participant at the panel which was organized within the conference ”Competition Day” held on April 12, 2016.

The lecture was attended by the President and members of the Council of the Commission, heads of divisions and employees of Technical Service. After the lecture, expert discussion and exchange of experience on competition law and policy in Serbia and the world was organized.

On the occassion of adoption of the new Regulation on the content and manner of notification of concentration (”Official Gazette of the RS.”, no. 5/16), Commission for Protection of Competition points to the obligation of market participants to notify concentration.

The Law on Protection of Competition provides for the obligation to notify concentration, in a manner and under conditions prescribed by this Law and the Regulation on the content and manner of notification of concentration (”Official Gazette of the RS.”, no. 89/09). It also established the obligation of the party to concentration to suspend the implementation of concentration until the decision of the Commission, as well as Commission’s competence, in case of implementation of concentration contrary to these obligations, to determine a measure for protection of competition to market participant, in the form of pecuniary fine in the amount up to 10% of the total annual turnover.

Failure to comply with obligations relating to notification of concentration within the legally prescribed period (Article 63), and suspension of concentration until the decision of the Commission, constitute a violation of the Law, and in cases where its existence has been established, the Commission shall issue a decision ordering the measure of procedural penalty, or a measure of protection of competition. These obligations apply, pursuant to provision of Article 3 of the Law, to all market participants, including public companies which, provided that the requirements laid down in Article 61 of the Law relating to total annual turnover are fulfilled, must notify the acquisition of control over another market participant.

The importance to comply with obligations relating to notification of concentration and suspension of its implementation until decision of the Commission, should be seen primarily in the context of the possible negative effects that concentrations for which the approval of the Commission was not obtained, may have on competition, whose creation is prevented precisely by ex ante control of concentration in order to protect competition from restriction, distortion or prevention, or the creation or strenghtening of dominant position of the party to concentration in the relevant market.

On January 23, 2016, Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted Regulation on the content and manner of notification of concentration. The Regulation was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no. 5/2016, dated January 25, 2016 and will enter into force on February 2, 2016, when it will begin to be implemented in the work of the Commission. Notifications of concentrations that are submitted as of February 2, have to be in accordance with this Regulation. The new regulation provides for the possibility of notification in summary form, which will facilitate the notification by reducing the necessary documentation to be submitted attached to notification. The conditions for submitting a notification in a summary form are regulated by the same Regulation. The Commission is ready, by applying the institute of pre-notification meeting, to eliminate ambiguities in the implementation of Regulation that the market participants may have.

Commission for Protection of Competition continuous ex officio to pursue investigation of concentration initiated on the basis of notification of the company ”Industry of Milk and Dairy Products Imlek” a.d. from Padinska Skela.

Concentration is notified for the acquisition of 100% of share in the company ”Nis Dairy” d.o.o.by the company ”Imlek”.

After having examined submitted documents, and based on all the facts arising from the content of the notification, Commission has found that by implementation of notified concentration, company ”Imlek” would strenghten its position in the market for purchase of raw cow’s milk, production and sales of milk and dairy products, since companies ”Imlek” and ”Nis Dairy” are direct competitors, and that the company ”Imlek” is the strongest participant in the relevant market.

The Commission shall, therefore, in investigation procedure, additionally evaluate all the statutory criteria in order to determine permissibility of concentration, and not only the structure of relevant markets and the position of parties to concentration on them. Commission shall specifically investigate whether a notified concentration fulfills the conditions of permissibility prescribed in Article 19 of the Law on Protection of Competition, or whether the implementation of concentration significantly restricts, distorts or prevents competition in the market of the Republic of Serbia or a part thereof.

The representative of the Commission for Protection of Competition participated in the meeting in Istanbul, organized by ICN Unilateral Conduct Working Group which deals with unilateral conduct of market participants, and in cooperation with Turkish competition authority, as co-organizer.

The two-day meeting included lectures, panel discussions as well as practical work on hypothetical case on the subject: ”Refusal to deal and assessment of unilateral conduct of market participants.”

The workshop was attended by representatives of competition authorities from countries with different level of development of competition law and practical experience, which certainly did not prove to be a hindrance to free exchange of ideas and experiences while working on a hypothetical case. This once again demonstrated that the presence at such meetings is of great importance, especially for countries that do not have a long tradition of competition protection, which is a case of Serbia.

The gathering was attended by about 100 representatives from more than 40 different countries.

Representative of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Mr. Srdjan Jankovic participated as one of the speakers at the seminar ”How to apply amendments and modifications to the Law on Public Procurements and the Law on Protection of Competition in public procurements procedures”, along with representatives of the Republic Commission for the Protection of Rights in Public Procurements Procedures and law office ”Jankovic, Popovic, Mitic”.

The seminar discussed the implementation of the amendments to the Law on Public Procurements; cooperation between Republic Commission for the Protection of Rights in Public Procurements Procedures and Commission for Protection of Competition in detecting bid rigging in public procurements, as well as the application of competition rules to joint participation in public procurements procedures.

The seminar was an opportunity to promote competition law and improve dialogue between Commission for Protection of Competition and market participants, as well as Republic Commission for the Protection of Rights in Public Procurements Procedures.

The seminar was organised by ”Top-Tier Legal Adriatic” (TLA) a regional network of legal experts, together with the French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Italian-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, German-Serbian Business Association, Slovenian Business Club, the trade department of the Embassy of Austria and as a coordinator, law firm ”Jankovic, Popovic, Mitic”.

The seminar was attended by more than 70 participants, which is another indicator of the need for constant training and exchange of experience between independent authorities, market participants amd experts.

Commission for Protection of Competition sent a letter to the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, expressing its position on the particular provisions of the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Public Utilities.

Commission stressed the importance of providing equal conditions for all participants in the market of utilities, and in this context drew attention to negative effects of the creation of a legal monopoly.

Commission for Protection of Competition expressed concern that the Ministry opted for solutions that will further limit the potential for competition in the market of public utilities.

Commission notes that only through competition among competitors with quality and price, economic progress and well-being of society, especially the benefit of consumers, can be achieved.

Commission for Protection of Competition has initiated procedure ex officio against companies Philip Morris Operations a.d. Niš, Philip Moriss Services d.o.o., Belgrade, JT International a.d. Senta, British American Tobacco a.d., British American Tobacco South East Europe d.o.o. Belgrade, IMPERIAL TOBACCO SCG d.o.o., Belgrade, TDR d.o.o., Belgrade and MONUS d.o.o. Belgrade (Zemun), due to a reasonable assumption that as market participants in Serbia they consorted their practice, with regard to pricing of their products.

Commission reasonably assumed that these companies concluded a restrictive agreement under Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition, in the form of consorted practice on introduction of change and the amount of change in price, including the time as of which their decision to change the price, becomes legaly bound.

It should be noted that the Commission, under this procedure, carried out dawn raid on November 30, 2015, of companies Philip Moriss Services d.o.o., Belgrade and British American Tobacco East Europe d.o.o., Belgrade.

Commission invites all persons who have data, documents or other relevant information which may contribute to determining the factual situation in this procedure, to submit them at Savska 25, Belgrade.