On the occasion of Competition Day, the Commission for Protection of Competition organized the International Conference “Challenges in the Implementation of Competition Policy on the Path towards the EU”.

The conference consisted of two panels designed for the exchange of experiences on relations between national competition authorities with the European Commission, degree of their functional and financial independence, importance of raising capacities, in addition to forms of cooperation in handling cases with increasingly featured regional and even international character.


Opening speeches are given by Dr. Miloje Obradović, President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Ms. Snežana B. Petrović, President of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Mr. Steffen Hudolin from the EU Delegation and Mr. Bogdan Chiritoiu, President of the Romanian Competition Council.

For the first time in its history, this conference introduced the honorable “guest-host” format, welcoming on the occasion the Competition Council of Romania.

In its introductory address, President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Dr. Miloje Obradović announced the new competition law’s enactment enabling more efficient work of the Commission and facilitating competition policy enforcement in Serbia.


„Practical implementation of the current Law on Protection of Competition demonstrated room for normative improvements. In that sense, the Commission is already active in designing particular concepts toward formulating and regulatory introducing individual institutes as soon as practicable, which have not been sufficiently regulated or in some instances even remained unregulated by the current Law.”

President Obradović said he believes there is a considerable room for enhancement of the Commission’s institutional capacities, particularly in the light of the new EC Directive. „The Commission has exercised due diligence by analyzing the proposal for a new Directive of the European Parliament drafted by the European Commission, envisaging new rules and tools designed to increase efficiency of national competition authorities operating within the European Union.“


President of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Ms. Snežana B. Petrović said that the Serbian Commission is on a good path to reach the level of respectability of competition authorities in the EU, which were built and system-incorporated for decades. This is also confirmed through positive assessments already given for the second year in a row by the EC in its annual report on Serbia’s progress during the accession into the European Union, and during meetings of the Subcommittee on Internal Market and Competition held in Brussels, said Ms. Petrović.

Representative of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Mr. Steffen Hudolin assessed that Serbia has achieved a good progress in the competition area with the supported provided by the EU and added that Serbian competition regulations are considerably compliant with the EU acquis.
Mr. Bogdan Chiritoiu, President of the Romanian Competition Council presented experiences of this institution in a year marking their 20th anniversary of operations, and announced intensified cooperation with the Serbian Commission for Protection of Competition.

The conference’s panel discussions gathered more than 150 guests, facilitated by Mr. Nicholas Banasevic, Head of Unit in DG Competition of the European Commission, Mr. Mladen Cerovac, President of the Croatian Competition Council, Dr. Dragan Lončar, Professor at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, Mr. Gianluca Sepe, Head of Sector – EU legislation, Italian Competition Authority, and Мr. Čedomir Radojčić and Dr. Veljko Milutinović, CPC Council members.


The conference was attended by numerous officials of all public institutions, regulatory authorities and scientific institutes, in addition to representatives from chambers of commerce and industry, law offices and business associations, as well as representatives of all regional competition authorities.