The Commission’s cooperation with international institutions and networks, such as UNCTAD, OECD, ICN, European Commission, OECD-GvH RCC, Energy Community and others, is also a cooperation of a long tradition. This cooperation is achieved through several different modalities. These are, above all, the contribution and participation of the Commission in the preparation of comprehensive reports and questionnaires or in projects aimed at improving the protection of competition in the Republic of Serbia and in general. Also, a very significant part of international cooperation activities is carried out by the Commission through trainings, seminars, workshops and conferences aimed at the exchange of experiences, as well as the improvement of practice, with the potential to achieve a greater degree of convergence of the practice of relevant authorities for the protection of competition.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development- UNCTAD

The Commission’s successful cooperation with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) dates back to the Peer Review analysis of competition protection policy in Serbia, which was completed in 2011. The Commission makes a regular contribution to the projects, conferences and expert gatherings of this organization, among which the annual conference is particularly important, i.e. the meeting of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts in the Field of Competition Law and Policy in Geneva, at which representatives of the Commission participate in cooperation with the relevant Mission of the Republic of Serbia to the United Nations .

International Competition Network- ICN

The commission has been an active member of the International Competition Network (ICN) ever since its foundation. Although formally, it is not an international organization, but rather an informal network of authorities for the protection of competition, given its task and focus, as well as its composition (a large number of national authorities for the protection of competition and representatives of the non-governmental sector, such as the business and academic community, legal profession, etc.), cooperation with ICN is seen as a necessity in the work of every competition protection body that strives for complete information and participation in modern trends in competition protection law and policy. Representatives of the Commission participate in the work of several working groups of this international network, as well as at the prestigious annual meetings of the ICN.

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – OECD and the OECD-GvH RCC in Budapest

The Commission’s cooperation with the OECD also has a very long tradition. Although the Republic of Serbia is not a member of this international organization, the Commission contributes to OECD activities, which include monitoring and aggregation of data on the protection of competition worldwide, in several ways. First, through the high-level exchange of experiences and the participation of Commission representatives at one of the most prestigious conferences in the field of competition protection, called “Global Forum on Competition”, for the needs of which it submits written contributions. Then, through participation in OECD projects and preparation of answers to complex questionnaires concerning the protection of competition in the Republic of Serbia. Finally, through the participation of representatives of the Commission in numerous seminars and workshops of the Regional Competition Center (RCC) in Budapest, which was founded in 2005 by the OECD and the Hungarian competition authority and which connects the competition authorities of Southeast Europe and the independent states Community independent.

Energy community

The Energy Community is an international organization based in Vienna, established by the Treaty on the Establishment of the Energy Community, signed in Athens in 2005. The Republic of Serbia is a signatory to the Treaty on the Establishment of the Energy Community, and the Ministry of Mining and Energy participates in the implementation of that treaty at the international level and manages the negotiation process concerning the proposal for its amendments and additions, on the part of the Republic of Serbia. The Commission cooperates with the Energy Community, that is, the Secretariat of this organization, through the Ministry of Mining and Energy. The cooperation is reflected, first of all, in the participation of the representatives of the Commission in the negotiation process and giving the Commission’s opinion on the proposed amendments to the Founding Agreement, as well as comments, from a professional aspect, on various reports of the Secretariat of the Energy Community, such as reports on the implementation of soft measures, annual Progress reports and the like.
Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)

The Commission’s cooperation with CEFTA takes place through the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, as the CEFTA contact point on the side of the Republic of Serbia. Given the fact that the CEFTA agreement, among other things, contains provisions on competition, the Commission participates in meetings and expresses its opinion on documents that arise in the process of fulfilling the obligations of the Republic of Serbia from that agreement or on acts that further regulate certain issues of importance in the field of competition , such as action plans and the like. To that end, the plan for the creation of the Regional Economic Area, based on the agreement of the Prime Ministers of the Western Balkans at the Summit in Trieste in 2017, is particularly important, which was shaped into the Action Plan for the establishment of the Regional Economic Area for the period 2021-2024.

The Commission participates in the process of accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union (EU) in order to fulfill international obligations by contributing to the harmonization of national legislation in the field of competition protection with EU legal acquis, ensuring effective implementation of legislation in that area and by participating in the negotiation process.
In the course of its work, the Commission acts in accordance with Article 73 of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, signed between the EU and the Republic of Serbia (hereinafter: SAA), regulating issues of competition protection. Pursuant to the provisions of the aforementioned article, the Commission is obliged to, when determining violations of competition that may affect trade between the Republic of Serbia and the EU, apply the criteria resulting from the application of competition rules applied in the EU (especially from the articles of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU that regulate restrictive agreements and abuse of a dominant position) and from the instruments of interpretation adopted by the EU institutions.

With regard to the assumption of obligations from the SAA related to the harmonization of legislation (Article 72 of the SAA), the Law on Protection of Competition and the regulations adopted on the basis of the Law are largely aligned with the EU acquis, which was confirmed in the Screening report, as well as in the annual reports of the European Commission on the progress of the Republic of Serbia. The Commission continuously participates in the work of the Subcommittee for the Internal Market and Competition, which was established in accordance with the provisions of the SAA and whose competence is to monitor the process of fulfilling the obligations from the Agreement in these areas. For the purposes of holding meetings of the Subcommittee for the Internal Market and Competition, as well as preparing the annual Report of the European Commission on the progress of the Republic of Serbia, the Commission submits regular written contributions, which contain detailed information on the level of compliance of national legislation with the EU acquis, on the capacities of the Commission, as well as its most significant activities in the implementation of the Law.
The participation of the Commission in the negotiation process is achieved through participation in the work of the respective negotiation groups. Pursuant to the Government’s Decision on the formation of the Coordination for conducting negotiations on the accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union and the Team for support of the negotiations (“Official Gazette of the RS”, no. 41/2021, 46/2021 and 53/2021), which adopted a new methodology for negotiations with the EU and introduced negotiation clusters,

the Commission takes part in the work of negotiating groups for the following chapters:

- Chapter 8: Competition policy (within negotiation cluster 2 – Internal market)
- Chapter 10: Information society and media (within negotiation cluster 3- Competitiveness and inclusive growth)
- Chapter 14: Transport (within negotiation cluster 4 – Green deal and sustainable connectivity) and
- Chapter 15: Energy (within negotiation cluster 4 – Green deal and sustainable connectivity).

In addition to the aforementioned groups, in the context of cooperation with other state bodies, the Commission also participates in the work of negotiating groups for Chapter 5: Public procurement and Chapter 23: Judiciary and fundamental rights (both within the negotiating cluster 1- Fundamentals), as well as in the process of preparing the documents for the meetings of the Parliamentary Committee for the Stabilization and Association of the European Union and Serbia.

Harmonization of regulations with the EU acquis
By signing the SAA, the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with Article 72 of this agreement, committed itself to the gradual harmonization of domestic legislation with the EU acquis, as well as its consistent application. In order to facilitate the preparation for the fulfillment of the requirements arising from the SAA, it was necessary to prepare a program that all candidate states for EU membership have, which would define the development and strategic goals in the process of European integration, as well as the measures necessary for their realization.

To that end, in 2008, the National Program for the Integration of the Republic of Serbia into the EU (NPI), which represented the first such comprehensive document, was adopted. Then in 2013, having obtained the status of a candidate for EU membership and the entry into force of the SAA, the Government of the RS adopted a new multi-year program for harmonizing domestic legislation with the EU acquis under the name of the National Program for the Adoption of the EU Acquis (hereinafter: NPAA), which replaced the previous NPI, and which was revised several times.

The Commission fulfilled all its obligations from the second revised version of the NPAA by drafting and, in accordance with the competences prescribed by the Law, after a repeated procedure of obtaining the relevant opinions of relevant state authorities, submitted to the Government of the Republic of Serbia proposals for three decrees on the exemption according to the agreement categories in 2021.

The Commission regularly reports to competent institutions on its institutional and administrative capacity, together with planned measures to strengthen them, in the context of monitoring the fulfillment of requirements and plans from the NPAA regarding competition policy.

Participation in the process of translation of the EU acquis into Serbian – expert editing of the translation of European legislation.

The Republic of Serbia, being one of the candidate countries for EU membership, has the duty to prepare the EU acquis in the national official (Serbian) language. This demanding process, which should be completed by the day of the accession of the Republic of Serbia to the EU, has been coordinated by the Ministry of European Integration since its establishment.

In cooperation with competent state institutions, the Ministry prepares priority lists of legal acts and hires translators. In addition to the actual translation of EU legal acts from one of the official languages of the EU, this process also includes three levels of editing – professional, legal-technical and language editing, in order to ensure the best possible quality of the translated texts.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition, since its establishment, participates in the process of expert editing of translations of EU legal acts, through its appointed representatives who have the capacity of coordinator and deputy coordinator for expert editing, as well as expert editors. Expert editing takes place on the basis of previously specified priorities for translation, which are controlled and updated annually by individual institutions, in the areas of their competence.

Since its establishment, the Commission has had significant technical support from the European Union, as well as from other international financial institutions through projects aimed at improving the capacities of the Commission, as well as protecting competition in the Republic of Serbia. Along with the development of the Commission over time, the nature of such assistance also changed – from capacity building to improving the work of the Commission in certain, narrowly defined areas and gradually directing it towards other actors on the market of the Republic of Serbia whose actions are significant for the protection of competition in the Republic of Serbia, such as the sector regulators, other organizations entrusted with the exercise of public authority, the judiciary, the academic community, etc.
The first such technical assistance program is the ACPC project (Assistance to the Commission for Protection of Competition), financed and implemented with funds from the CARDS 2006 program of the European Union, and implemented in the period from January 1, 2008 until December 31, 2010.

Then, in the course of 2011, the Commission undertook steps to maintain continuity in the field of education and raise the level of practical knowledge of employees through bilateral cooperation with the German Government. Owing to such cooperation, the Commission was assigned a capacity-building project organized by the German state foundation IRZ, designed as a temporary solution until the start of implementation of support to the Commission from the funds of the IPA 2011 pre-accession program.

Following the international tender and evaluation of the received bids at the headquarters of the EU Delegation in Serbia, in September 2012, the project “Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of the Commission for the Protection of Competition in the Republic of Serbia” started, financed from the IPA 2011 program, worth about 2.5 million euros. The realization of this project lasted for 30 months, and it was entrusted to “GIZ International Services”. This project involved strengthening the capacity of the Commission and practical training, not only of the employees of the Commission, but also of the judges of the Administrative Court, the business community and regulatory bodies.

In the period from July to October 2012, also owing to funds from the pre-accession program IPA 2011, in the amount of about 180,000 euros, the procurement and installation of forensic software for the Commission for the Protection of Competition was realized. The tender was announced by the EU Delegation in Serbia, on the basis of which the company “IMC Technologies” was chosen for the implementation of the project. The procurement of forensic software was carried out in order to equip the Commission with the necessary technical conditions for carrying out dawn raids. In addition to the software itself and accompanying elements for carrying out dawn raids, the Commission was also provided with 6 modern laptop computers of exceptional performance, as well as significant capacities for storing a large amount of electronic data.

As part of this project, the employees of the Commission were trained to handle the said equipment, after which they were issued international certificates.

In the course of 2013, in addition to the activities on the project “Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of the Commission for the Protection of Competition in the Republic of Serbia”, a program for improving the economic education of employees of the Commission for the Protection of Competition was implemented. This program was implemented in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies, and its goal was to offer participants the knowledge necessary for a full understanding of the economic principles that are applied in the analysis of cases belonging to the competition law. A very important segment of the program was aimed at presenting the most significant econometric techniques used in the analysis of cases from the field of competition law. Support to the Commission by the EBRD, in cooperation with the Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies, continued in 2014 and 2015, and ended in 2016. This program of comprehensive training and support for employees of the Commission was focused on the following areas: procurement of econometric software and training of employees in its use, improvement of knowledge for the application of forensic software, definition and implementation of a public relations strategy and organization of seminars on the topic of economic regulation.

In the period from April to October 2016, the Perform project was implemented by the representative office of Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation SRB, in cooperation with the Republic Secretariat for Public Policies. The Commission was one of the beneficiaries of this project, the main goal of which was to conduct a competition analysis in the after-sales service sector. The analysis resulted in a series of conclusions and recommendations, which were published on the Commission’s website, and based on its results, a proposal for a Regulation on agreements on repair and maintenance of motor vehicles and on the sale of spare parts that are exempt from the prohibition of restrictive agreements was prepared.

During 2017, the Commission prepared applications for several projects, which were approved in the meantime and whose implementation started mainly during 2018.

The project entitled “Increasing economic growth through support for the promotion of competition protection policy” was approved by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in Belgrade, under the auspices of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This project lasted from November 2017 to December 31, 2021 (extended several times due to the corona virus pandemic), and consisted of four basic segments, aimed at strengthening the capacity of the Commission in the implementation of competition policy, through: promotion of potential solutions in the future draft law on competition protection; increasing the detection rate of competition violations by providing the latest forensic equipment and training; by raising the level of the culture of competition and awareness among the key actors in the market of the Republic of Serbia and the development of strategies and guidelines for the Commission’s crisis PR, as well as the implementation of relevant training in that domain.

Starting from the spring of 2018 until 2020, the Commission, in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, implemented a project called “Capacity Building of the Commission for the Protection of Competition”. The main components of this project were aimed at: supporting the work of the Commission, through the provision of econometric software and appropriate training, the development of guidelines and a glossary of competition law and other accompanying activities; strengthening the academic approach and cooperation of the employees of the Commission with academic institutions;

The third project, which was implemented by the Commission starting in 2018, in cooperation with the World Bank, was entitled “Project to improve the business environment in the Republic of Serbia”. Through this project, the Commission was provided with technical assistance for the improvement of competition and market regulation in the Republic of Serbia, based on the umbrella agreement signed by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group). One of the significant results of this project was the signing of the Memorandum on Cooperation between the Commission and the Republic Secretariat for Public Policy, with the aim of achieving more efficient inter-institutional cooperation, especially in the domain of the analysis of the effects of regulations on competition in the market of the Republic of Serbia. Also, as part of this project, which ended in 2021, two sectoral analyzes were conducted – the market of international freight transport by rail and the market of intercity bus traffic in the Republic of Serbia.

The twinning project entitled “Further development of competition protection in Serbia” was carried out by the Commission together with the Italian competition protection authority for a period of 30 months (initially 24 months, but extended due to the corona virus pandemic). This project was financed from EU funds, namely the IPA 2014 program, and had three key components, aimed at: further harmonization of national legislation in the field of competition protection with the EU acquis; effective application and enforcement of rules on competition protection, and increasing awareness of competition law and policy among all relevant actors. Given that the Commission was the end, but not the only, beneficiary of this project, advanced workshops were held through the project for Commission employees, as well as a number of other workshops and trainings, such as workshops for representatives of state institutions responsible in the field of public procurement ( Administration for Public Procurement, Republic Commission for the Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures), the largest contracting parties in those procedures, as well as for representatives of various regulatory bodies (REM, RATEL, NBS, Directorate of Railways, etc.) and perhaps most importantly, the judiciary. Also, the Commission was delivered documents of importance for its work, created as an expected product of this project, such as an overview of the basic principles of judicial practice of EU courts in cases of competition protection for the period from 2018-2020. Considering the complexity and focus of this project on several key actors in the field of competition protection in the Republic of Serbia, it is expected that it will have a prolonged effect, in terms of further improvement of the Commission’s work, but even more so in the context of raising the level of knowledge and awareness of other relevant institutions of the Republic of Serbia on the rules and importance of competition protection.

In 2021, despite the conditions brought about by the corona virus pandemic, the Commission applied for new projects, which are aimed at providing support to professional, narrowly defined areas.