President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Mr. Miloje Obradovic, Ph.D., on Wednesday, November 4, 2015, in Metropol Hotel delivered a keynote address at the Conference organized by the law office Karanovic & Nikolic and the German foundation Friedrich Naumann.

The occassion for holding the Confernce was the marking of the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the first modern Law on Protection of Competition in the Republic of Serbia. Presentations and discussions were focused on innovations in the field of competition law, with particular emphasis on dawn raids, actions for damages caused by infringement of competition and competition law in digital age.

One of the panelists at the Conference was Mr.Cedomir Radojcic, Head of Restrictive Practices Division in the Commission for Protection of Competition, who gave an overview of the first decade of implementation of Law on Protection of Competition in Serbia, as well as the establishment of Commission’s practice in dawn raids.

The public at the Conference positively assessed the predictability of proceedings by Commission for Protection of Competition, which is, as pointed out by speakers, very important for certainty of market participants and their business decisions.

The Conference provided also an opportunity for competion advocacy in the professional community, as well as exchange, through dialogue, of experience and views on the situation in this field.

Delegation of the Commission for Protection of Competition attended the 14th session of the OECD Annual Conference, entitled ”Global Forum on Competition” at the invitation of OECD Secretariat.

Annual meeting was held in the head-office of OECD, on October 29 and 30, 2015, having as primary topics ”Connection and Interdependence of Competition Policy and Employment” (does competition contribute to job distruction or job creation ?) and ”Cartels – Series Offenders (discussion on the issue of systematic repetition of cartel agreements in certain sectors of economy)”.

The first day of Conference was dominated by topic which engaged the representatives of both competition authorities and representatives of governments, trade unions and academia. The session focused on theoretical and practical examples which explored several models according to which active competition policy in certain areas contributes to creation of new jobs, but in some cases it also leads to loss of jobs.

On the second day of Conference, our delegation participated in the session on the subject of systematic repetition of cartel agreements in certain sectors of economy. Delegation conducted also a series of bilateral discussions with representatives of competition authorities from Austria, United States, Romania, Czech Republic, Sweden, countries in the region and other, on the subject of continuing further cooperation in the forthcoming period.

Conference was attended by over 90 delegations of competition authorities from all over the world, as well as representatives of international institutions, academia and business associations.

Commission for Protection of Competition, in the procedure conducted ex officio, found that the companies “D&D Travel”, Ltd., Niš, “DJD prevoz” Ltd., Niš and “Jeremic prevoz” Ltd., Niš, concluded a restrictive agreement which pre-arranged individual participation in the public procurement for Clinical Centre Niš (service for organized transport of workers in 2014). During the procedure, the Commission established that those undertakings infringed competition rules by agreeing to determine prices and other commercial conditions contained in every single offer, which led to their infringment of competition under Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition.

Given the above, the Commission set a measure for protection of competition in the form of pecuniary fine in the amount of 1.6% of the total annual turnover realized in 2013 for all above stated companies.

In Beograd, at the Media Centre, the publication “Transparency and Accountability of Agencies: Comparative Analysis of Five Regulated Sectors in Serbia and Macedonia” was presented analysing ten regulatory and control bodies in Serbia and Macedonia, including the Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia.

This publication presents the results of one-year study to show that the Commission applied a high degree of transparency in its work. ”Details pertaining to its core competencies, such as information on infringements of competition and monitoring of competition, have been extensively published on the Commission site. The Commission has therefore achieved a high degree of transparency, especially with regard to the first, second, third and fourth element of transparency regarding decisions, rules, conduct and control of market participants” – as stated in publication.

The presentation of publication ”Transparency and Accountability of Agencies: A Comparative Analysis of Five Regulated Sectors in Serbia and Macedonia” was attended by the Secretary to the Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia, Mr.Dragan Penezic, who spoke of further steps in improving the transparency of work, and plans to strenghten Commission’s presence in the public, primarely citizens and business community.

In his speech, Secretary to the Commission stressed his satisfaction with the fact stated in publication, that the Commission for Protection of Competition was singled out from other analyzed institutions, because of the positive effects of the Commission’s decision to publish more information on site than is a legal requirement. As a reminder, since 2013, in the frame of publishing issued descisions, the Commission also publishes the reasoning of such decisions, thus increasing the level of transparency of the decision making process.

At the invitation of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation, President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Mr. Miloje Obradovic, Ph.D. and a member of the Council, Ms. Mirjana Miskovic Vukasinovic, on September 23, 2015 attended jubilee session marking 25 years since its founding, and ”Competition Week” in Moscow. On this occassion, President of the Commission gave a remarkable presentation at the formal part of the session, which was also attended by the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Putin.

President of the Commission, Mr.Miloje Obradovic, Ph.D. in his address pointed out that competition policy has long ago overcome national boundaries and therefore cannot depend only on domestic rules of work, but should be regularly coordinated with the general rules of competition protection applied worlwide. That is why the cooperation with competition authority from Russian Federation, raised to the highest level in the last few years, as indicated by him, has opened yet another significant chapter in the development of Serbian Commission. Expedient exchange of information, comparative practice and possibility of exchanging experience through joint meetings, are of great benefit to Technical Service of the Commission.

Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia and Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation signed Cooperation Agreement in 2012, followed by a series of joint activities that significantly influenced the improvement of work of the Commission. Pursuant to the Agreement, seminars and education in FAS training center in Kazan were organized, attended by many employees from Technical Service of the Commission, as well as a study visit and a visit of Russian colleagues last year to Serbia.

As of August 24, 2015, the Commission is to continue its work at the following address:
Savska 25, fourth floor, 11000 Beograd

All other data relevant to respective parties, including phone numbers and e-mail addresses, remain unchanged.

Until September 1, 2015 the submission and receipt of mail will also be possible both at the former and the new address, and after that date, only at:

Commission for Protection of Competition
Savska 25, fourth floor
11000 Beograd

Press release on initiation of investigation procedure for competition infringement against business enterprises Fresenius Medical Care Srbija d.o.o. and Medicon d.o.o.

Commission for Protection of Competition initiated investigation procedure ex officio for infringement of competition, against business enterprises Fresenius Medical Care Srbija d.o.o. and Medicon d.o.o. and their specialized hospitals for hemodialysis, in order to investigate the existence of restrictive agreement under Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition, which restricts competition in the market for dialysis services in the Republic of Serbia.

Fresenius Medical Care Srbija d.o.o. and Medicon d.o.o. and their specialized hospitals for hemodialysis are, according to available information, the only private medical centers that can offer the provision of hemodialysis services in the Republic of Serbia for persons insured under the Republic Health Insurance Fund, for which there are no facilities for treatment in medical institutions provided by NHIF Network Plan. At one time, the above business enterprises submitted joint tenders in public procurements for the provision of hemodialysis, which completely excluded competition between these market participants. After the cessation of joint participation, these companies have submitted separate bids, but the specific facts and circumstances indicate that they continued to coordinate their participation in public procurements, which, if confirmed in the investigation procedure, constitutes a restriction of competition in the relevant market. Based on the above, Commission has reasonably assumed the existence of infringement of competition on the ground of consorted practice concerning participation in public procurements conducted by the Republic Health Insurance Fund for provision of dialysis services to persons insured under RHIF.

Commission shall, in investigation procedure, undertake evidentiary actions in order to determine decisive facts, which are important for assessing the existence of infringement of competition.

As always, Commission again pointed out that detecting and sanctioning cartels, especially bid regging in public procurements, is a priority in the work of the Commission on the grounds that this type of restrictive agreements is the most serious infringement of competition, which exclude all the benefits from competitive bidding in the market, increase the spending of budet funds of institutions that regulate public procurements and limit the choice of products/services.

The Commission takes this opportunity to draw attention to all market participants to the legal possibility to be exempted from payment of fine as merger remedy (which amounts up to 10% of total turnover), i.e. that the same be reduced, if they report to Commission existing agreements and/or provide evidence that will enable the issuing of decision on infringement of competition under Article 10 of the Law. The ”immunity” programme is regulated by Article 69 of the Law on Protection of Competition and relevant by-laws (Regulation and Guidelines of the Commission) published on the Commission’s Internet site www.kzk.gov.rs.

In the course of the past week, Commission initiated procedure for establishment of existence of infringement of competition relating to distribution of electronic cigarettes and liquid for electronic cigarettes, and on the strength of its legal powers carried out dawn raids of the premises of the parties on several locations in the territory of the city of Beograde. Procedures were initiated on the ground of suspicion that the undertakings concluded agreements on setting minimum prices in retail trade.

Dawn raid is an unannounced search of premises, i.e.data, documents and effects found in that place, of which a party i.e. holder of premises and property is informed on the spot, at the time of carrying out the search. This instrument is exceptionally efficient in uncovering cartel collusions and other forms of infringements of competition. During dawn raid, Commission had a full cooperation of parties to procedure.

The result of efficient implementation of policy preventing competition infringements is, above all, consumers welfare, through better selection, quality and lower prices of goods and services. Efficient competition policy provides also benefits for competitors, since by preventing cartels and abuse of dominant position, equal conditions for all undertakings are created.

At this instant, Commission is not in position to deliver any additional information, as not to endanger further investigation procedures.

Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia and Agency for Protection of Competition of Montenegro signed today in Podgorica, Memorandum on Mutual Understanding and Cooperation in the field of Competition. This Memorandum, signed by Mr. Miloje Obradovic, President of the Commission and Mr.Miodrag Vujovic, Director of the Agency, represents a continuation of promotion of successful cooperation and development of bilateral relations by ensuring conditions for efficient functioning of market products and services.

Serbian and Montenegrin institutions for protection of competition will thus be even closer to European values in the field of competition law and policy, which constitutes an important segment of the negotiation process for accession to full membership in the European Union.

With this document, Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia completed formal cooperation with all countries in the region, which will significantly facilitate the future work and monitoring and sanctioning of irregularities in the market.

On May 28, 2015, Commission for Protection of Competition approved concentration created by the change of control over company ”Belgrade Waterfront” from Belgrade.The said company was founded on April 26, 2014, as a single-member company, exclusively owned by the Republic of Serbia. After the completition of the underlying transaction, control over that company was transformed from individual into joint which, in addition to the Republic of Serbia, will be exercised also by strategic partner from United Arab Emirates – company Belgrade Waterfront Capital Investment LLC. After increase in capital base, foreign partner will be included in the structure of total equity shares, by becoming a majority member of company with 68%, but in terms of control, members of the company will jointly and equally participate in making all key decisions within the competence of the Company Assembly and Supervisory Board.

The Commission, in making decision  about the permissibility of  concentration, had in mind the fact that its implementation will not restrict, distort or prevent competition in the market of the Republic of Serbia, but in assessing its effects observed  the wider context of implementation of the entire project, in light of the aim of the Law, and the possible benefits from the standpoint of economic progress and the welfare of sociaty, as well as the benefits of the consumers.