Pursuant to Article 58 of the Law on Protection of Competition, the Commission for Protection of Competition hereby publishes the Notice of Filing of the Proposal of Commitments, which companies VISA Incorporated, VISA International Service Association and VISA CEMEA Holdings Limited as legal entities representing the VISA payment organization, are voluntarily willing to undertake in order to eliminate possible infringement of competition, with a call inviting all interested parties to submit commentaries, views and opinions in writing with reference to the commitments proposed.

President of the Commission for Protection of Competition Dr Miloje Obradović has received a visit from the EBRD’s new Director for the Western Balkans, Zsuzsanna Hargitai.

Dr Obradović updated Director Hargitai on the Commission’s activities to date, as well as plans directed at advancing the competition policy in our country. During the talks, the Commission President has specifically underlined the benefits for the Commission from the existing cooperation with the EBRD. He has also informed the interlocutor of the status of currently implemented project “Capacity Building for the Serbian Commission for Protection of Competition”, supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The EBRD Director for the Western Balkans has underlined that this international institution has a good cooperation with the Commission, and that the aim is to further improve it and provide a support to reforms in the light of Serbia’s EU accession perspective.

It is concluded that both institutions should place additional efforts in the coming period in order to strengthen competition policy in the Republic of Serbia with a view to advancing our country’s business environment.

The Commission for Protection of Competition has instituted two proceedings against seven undertakings who have participated in a public procurement procedure published by PE „Elektroprivreda Srbije” in two groups of bidders. The parties in the proceedings have concluded joint bidding agreements relating to the public procurement whose subject was the provision of hauling services for the remaining equipment of used excavator and stacker from FR Germany to the Republic of Serbia.

One of the proceedings is instituted against companies Bora Kečić – specijalni transporti d.o.o. Beograd, Union Šped d.o.o. Beograd and Bata d.o.o. Trešnjevac (Kanjiža), and the other against companies Bora Kečić – vangabaritni transporti d.o.o. Beograd, Preduzeće za puteve Kragujevac d.o.o. Kragujevac, Transportšped d.o.o. Beograd and Agrorit d.o.o. Melenci (Zrenjanin).

All persons in possession of data, documents or other relevant information which could contribute to the accurate fact-finding in these proceedings are called upon to submit said to the Commission for Protection of Competition to the address 25/IV Savska St., Belgrade

The Commission for Protection of Competition has organized a public debate in Kragujevac dedicated to examining potential solutions towards the improvement of competition policy and law in the Republic of Serbia.

Professors of the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Economics of the Universities of Kragujevac, Niš and Novi Sad, Dr Milan Kostić, Prof Dr Boban Stojanović and Dr Sandra Fišer-Šobot, respectively, took part in the panel discussion, as well as representatives of the City of Kragujevac, companies and business clusters from the Region of Šumadija.

Gordana Lukić, member of the Working Group on drafting new competition act and Head of the Merger Investigation Division, began by welcoming the audience and underlying that the new legal framework governing competition policy should enable the improvement of procedural rights of the parties in specific administrative procedures initiated before the Commission, with due regard for specificities of the proceedings from that area, and in particular for the need for economy and efficiency.

It is established that a new legal framework governing competition policy is needed, both against the background of continued harmonization against EU acquis, and on account of strengthening the existing institutional capacity of the Commission for Protection of Competition. It is also underlined that this is the first time that all relevant stakeholders are taking part in drafting new regulation, specifying that besides representatives of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications and experts from the Ministries of Economy, Justice, Public Administration and the Commission for Protection of Competition, the Working Group is comprised of representatives from numerous associations of undertakings as well.

The public debate is organized as part of the project “Increasing economic growth through support to the promotion of competition policy”, supported by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Further three more public debates are planned, to be held in Niš, Novi Sad and Belgrade.

President of the Commission for Protection of Competition, Dr Miloje Obradović, gave a keynote address at the “Competition and Personal Data Protection” conference, traditionally held by the Law Firm Karanović & Partners and the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.

This year’s conference was focused on the experiences in competition law enforcement in the context of interplay between the competition law enforcement and economics, as seen through the prism of Serbian and EU experiences, state aid control, as well as on the implementation of new legal solutions governing personal data protection.

Dr Obradović underlined, inter alia, that the contribution of effective competition policy and law enforcement in promoting economic growth and well-being of citizens of the Republic of Serbia remains challenging, but that the Commission is fully aware of the importance of its mission and assigned tasks.

One of the conference’s panelists was Marko Obradović, CPC Council member, who informed the audience about the Commission’s plans and perspectives against the background of competition policy improvement in the Republic of Serbia.