The Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia discussed and unanimously adopted the Activity reports of the Commission for Protection of Competition for 2017 and 2018.
President of the Commission Dr Miloje Obradović informed the Committee members that two annual activity reports of the Commission contain all key elements pertaining to the work of the national competition authority. The Commission, according to Dr Obradović, has increased its administrative and institutional capacities during the period referred, and was focused on efficient and effective law enforcement towards ensuring more effective competition in Serbia.

- Our objective is the creation of competitive markets where undertakings will increase their productivity, innovations and investments, resulting in faster economic growth, development and increased standard of living of the citizens of the Republic of Serbia, concluded President Obradović during his presentation of the reports before the Committee.

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Dr Ivana Rakić, Senior Advisor at the Merger Investigation Division of the Commission for Protection of Competition, has won a prestigious global award for the best academic antitrust article.

At the international annual contest traditionally organized by the Institute of Competition Law with offices in Paris and New York, Concurrences, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Institute, and the George Washington University Law School Competition Law Center, USA, Dr Ivana Rakić has received the readers’ vote award for the best academic antitrust article in the Procedure category.

Link to the news.

The topic of the article reviewed by readers of Concurrences journal as one of the best is “The Role of Competition Advocacy: The Serbian Experience”.

Link to the article submitted by Dr Ivana Rakić.

The Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia, in co-operation with the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Belgrade, has organized a seminar on the topic “International Competition Policy – Experiences of the Republic of Korea”.

The event was opened with introductory remarks by Dr Miloje Obradović, President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, followed by keynote addresses by Sang-Jo Kim, Chairman of the Korea Fair Trade Commission, and Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Serbia, H.E. Hyoung-Chan Choe.

In welcoming numerous seminar participants, President Obradović pointed out that competition policy is one of the key segments of economic and business systems of every country. The implementation of competition policy in the Republic of Serbia is performed in accordance with the current legal system, economic factors, sound business principles, and public interest. Dr Obradović underlined that implementation of competition law and policy leads to building adequate business environment and investment climate, in addition to greater involvement of the national economy into the EU economic mainstream.

Our full commitment towards achieving a more efficient competition in our national markets, as well as our genuine desire to establish closer co-operation, are the elements that bind the Korean and Serbian competition authorities, Dr Miloje Obradović said at the time.

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President of the Commission for Protection of Competition Dr Miloje Obradović took part as a panelist at the Kopaonik Business Forum 2019 during the “Protection of Competition in Serbia” panel session.
In addition to Dr Obradović, the participants at this panel session were also Marko Jović, Head of General Affairs, Vip mobile, Prof Dr Boban Stojanović, Faculty of Economics, University of Niš, and Tomislav Momirović, CEO, Mona Hoteli Management, while the session moderator was Prof Dr Dragan Lončar, Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade.

In thanking all panelists for their contribution to the discussion and numerous guests present in the Central Hall during the Kopaonik Business Forum, the Commission President reminded the audience that the protection of competition is one of the key segments of the economic and business system of every country. Dr Obradović underlined that the implementation of competition law and policy leads to building adequate business environment and investment climate, in addition to mainstreaming the Serbian economy into the European Union. The implementation of competition policy in the Republic of Serbia is performed in accordance with the legal system, economic factors, sound business rationale, and public interest.

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The official launching ceremony held at the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia has marked the initiation of the two-year EU-funded Twinning project “Further Development of Protection of Competition in Serbia”, jointly implemented by the Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia and the Italian Competition Authority.

Dr Miloje Obradović, President of the Commission for Protection of Competition spoke on the importance of this project for the development of competition policy in the Republic of Serbia, in addition to Gabriella Muscolo, President of the Italian competition authority, Vesna Kovač, State Secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia, H.E. Carlo Lo Cascio, Ambassador of the Republic of Italy to Serbia, Mateja Norčič Štamcar, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Marko Jovanović, Assistant Minister of Finance for Contracting and Financing of EU Funded Programs, Marko Obradović, CPC Council member, and Alessandra Tonazzi, Director of International and European Affairs at the Italian Competition Authority.
The principal objective of this project is to provide input to the further alignment of national competition legislation with the EU acquis, its efficient enforcement and raising awareness on the competition law and policy among all relevant stakeholders in the Republic of Serbia.

The Commission for Protection of Competition is recognized as one of the parts of the Serbian administration whose work is most harmonized with the acquis communautaire and which improves its work every year, causing positive effects on the improvement of the business environment in the Republic of Serbia.

Noting that the Commission is the end-user, but not the sole project beneficiary, it is expected that the project implementation will secure considerable progress in ensuring the understanding, observance and implementation of competition rules by the courts, regulatory bodies, undertakings and their respective associations. This takes on particular significance in the context of raising capacities of the Serbian economy by strengthening market competition, which represents an important factor in the EU accession process.

This Twinning project that has been awarded to the Republic of Serbia is an important indication that the EU highly values activities implemented by the Commission for Protection of Competition in the previous years. This progress is also recognized in the European Commission’s Annual Report on Serbia 2018.

The project “Further Development of Protection of Competition in Serbia” is a part of the Twinning initiative launched by the European Commission to assist candidate countries in their efforts to strengthen their administrative and judicial capacity for the implementation of the EU acquis. The project budget is about one million euro and will be implemented over 24 months.