The Commission for Protection of Competition and the Italian Competition Authority, Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, organized a five-day seminar “Competition and Public Procurements” as partners in implementing the EU-funded Twinning project “Further Development of Protection of Competition in Serbia”.

At the event held at the Palace of Serbia marking the formal opening of the seminar, keynote addresses were given by Aleksandra Tomić, Chair of the Committee on Finance, State Budget and Control of Public Spending of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Miloje Obradović, President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Dejan Damnjanović, Deputy Director of the Anticorruption Agency, and Stefan Otašević from the Public Procurement Office.

Chair of the Assembly’s Committee Aleksandra Tomić said that independent institutions, judiciary, and the public must have control over public procurements. “In each country, the state taken individually is the largest purchaser and the biggest economic player, while the public procurements are one of the most important budget expenditure items, and that is why it’s imperative to monitor how the taxpayers’ money is spent”, underlined Chair Tomić, pointing out that public tenders may be suitable for inappropriate spending of public funds by bid-rigging in every country. So it’s important, she added, that all stakeholders participate in adopting legislation regulating the field in order to avoid any “legal loopholes”.

President of the Commission for Protection of Competition Miloje Obradović said that according to the Law on Protection of Competition, rigged or fictitious bids in public procurements are among the most serious violations of competition – the so-called cartel agreements.

“The Commission’s competence relating to public procurement procedures exists only when bidders enter into a prohibited agreement on bid submission or suppression schemes in response to a call for tenders published by the ordering party”, said Obradović and reminded the audience that the dawn raid system and leniency program are launched in Serbia, proving to be the most efficient tools in detecting cartels. As an added value, the Commission President mentioned the need to improve the modalities of association and cooperation between national institutions in Serbia in charge of public procurements and competition.

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The Commission for Protection of Competition has instituted proceedings ex officio against company Fortenova Grupa d.d. Zagreb in order to investigate a merger implemented without antitrust clearance. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Fortenova Grupa d.d. Zagreb has acquired control over companies Frikom d.o.o. Beograd, Dijamant a.d. Zrenjanin, Mivela Mg, PIK Vrbovec d.o.o. Beograd, Kikindski mlin and other companies established in the Republic of Serbia, operating within the Agrokor group.

In the proceedings concerned, the Commission will investigate whether the provisions of the Law on Protection of Competition are contravened in the specific circumstances of this case, who exercises the control over company Fortenova Grupa, as well as the permissibility of this concentration within the meaning of Article 19 of the Law. The Commission will also establish material facts, evidence and other elements that will represent the basis for its decision making in terms of potential antitrust measures to be specified, that is, deconcentration measures.

The Law stipulates that concentrations of undertakings are permitted, unless they significantly restrict, distort, or prevent competition in the market of the Republic of Serbia or its part, and especially if that restriction, distortion, or prevention is the result of creating or strengthening of dominance.

The conclusion which initiated the proceedings concerned invites all persons in possession of information, documents or other relevant facts that could contribute to the accurate fact-finding in this proceeding to forthwith submit said evidence to the Commission for Protection of Competition to the address 25/IV Savska St., Belgrade.

The Commission for Protection of Competition has uploaded a new video clip to its YouTube channel entitled “Our contribution to the protection of competition over the last five years, 2014-2019”.

The aim of the Commission is to present its five-year record and achievements to all undertakings, academia and citizens, whose well-being is the objective of its overall activities focused on the protection of competition, and in that manner to enhance the communication with all stakeholders and improve its operational transparency.

The video clip is produced under the project “Increasing economic growth through support to the promotion of competition policy”, implemented by CPC in collaboration with the Kingdom of Norway and the Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade.

Member of the Council of the Commission for Protection of Competition Čedomir Radojčić participated as one of the speakers at the BRICS Competition Conference, organized in Moscow, Russia, from Sept 16-20, 2019, held on a regular basis as a major international forum uniting the BRICS competition authorities.

This year’s Conference held under the leitmotif “10 years of successful cooperation between the BRICS competition authorities: results and prospects” was devoted specifically to competition issues in the digital economy, as well as narrower issues of public procurement system developments.

Acting as CPC representative, Čedomir Radojčić took part in the panel discussion on “State participation in the economy” together with colleagues from a number of other competition authorities. During the session, Radojčić underlined that the market economy and state interventionism are not alternatives to each other but, on the contrary, mutually codependent.

Proper functioning of markets depends on the proper functioning of the state. Inefficient markets cannot contribute to the proper functioning of the state and vice-versa. To that effect, there are no alternatives, said Radojčić.
The key findings of the 2019 BRICS Competition Conference are that one of the biggest challenges today is the harmonization of competition policy and law with an increasingly widespread impact of digitalization of the economy, in addition to the fight against anti-competitive behaviors of undertakings in the era of globalization, and the importance of strengthening of international cooperation in this area.

The Conference was attended by senior representatives from more than 50 competition authorities from around the world, representatives of international institutions and academia.

The representative of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Vuk Leković, Advisor at the Restrictive Practices Division, as a beneficiary of the training program supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), attended a professional training course in Japan.

The seminar was aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of competition law and policy enforcement and exchanging experiences to improve the use of the acquired knowledge so as to help ongoing efforts to secure even more efficient protection of competition in the markets of countries participating in the program. The training program included an overview of the both antitrust theory and practice as a laying foundation for promoting competition.

This year, representatives of competition authorities from 19 countries around the world have attended the training program. The Japan International Cooperation Agency organizes such kind of seminars since 1994.
The participation of the CPC representative at the JICA/JFTC training course in Tokyo represents the continuation of a successful cooperation established between the Commission and the Japan Fair Trade Commission, also confirmed by the last year’s successfully co-organized a two-day seminar held in Belgrade.