The Commission for the Protection of Competition took part in the second annual conference of the Corporate Compliance Association on the topic of “Changing Perspectives” which was held in Belgrade. More than 180 participants took part in the conference, including lecturers and panelists from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia, who contributed to the promotion of corporate compliance.

The work of the Commission in the field of corporate compliance was presented within the panel on the topic of the future of the Compliance function. An overview of the Commission’s activities in the past two years was presented, which were undertaken in order to raise the level of awareness of corporate needs in accordance with regulations on competition protection, whereas the need for further education in this area was also highlighted.

In order to help undertakings in the process of adopting competition compliance programs, the Commission for Protection of Competition has prepared in hardcopy in English, the Guidelines for Drafting Competition Compliance Programs, a Template Competition Compliance Program accompanying the Guidelines and two Competition Checklists for assessing exposure of undertakings to risks of competition infringements.

The aim of these materials is to guide undertakings, both large and SMEs (small and medium-sized companies), when drafting internal acts and regulations to ensure that their business operations are in line with competition rules and to raise awareness among a wider circle of undertakings of the need for competition compliance.

The Guidelines with the accompanying documents are available on the Commission’s website and can be taken in hardcopy, both in Serbian and English, every business day at the Commission for the Protection of Competition, 25 Savska Street, Belgrade.

Representatives of the Commission for the Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia – Čedomir Radojčić, member of the Council and senior advisors Nina Vasić and Maja Dobrić, took part in the 22nd ICN annual conference that took place in Barcelona from October 18 to 20, hosted by the Spanish competition authority, the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC).

The conference was attended by hundreds of participants from around 100 countries, namely the highest representatives of competition authorities, judges, university professors, lawyers, economists and consultants from the field of competition protection, etc.
The topics of this year’s conference reflected the activities of working groups within the International Competition Network (ICN) and related to the role of courts, digital concentrations, lawyers, challenges in cases of abuse of a dominant position, the relationship between privacy protection and competition protection, selection of priorities, further steps in cartel detection and other topics as well.

During the conference, representatives of the Commission had a notable participation, Nina Vasić was the moderator of the panel within the International Competition Network for the Effectiveness of Competition Authorities (ICN AEWG) on the topic of Measuring effectiveness: ex-post and ex-ante impact assessment of competition authorities’ activities and Maja Dobrić, within the same working group, presented the Commission’s experiences in an agency-only session on the topic of Innovative detection tools and their effective usage.

At the conference, experience was exchanged with other competition authorities and international organizations, and interest was expressed in ways of detecting competition violations that the Commission had in its practice.

The Commission for Protection of Competition initiated proceedings against the market participants, KTG Solucije d.o.o. Subotica and Eco sense d.o.o. Subotica due to the reasonable assumption that by colluding in the public procurement procedures of different contracting authorities, they infringed competition in the sense of Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition.

Simultaneously with the initiation of the proceedings, the authorized officials of the Commission for Protection of Competition carried out a dawn raid at two locations and collected the relevant documentation for establishing the facts in this procedure.

The Commission discovered, through the Public Procurement Office, that the company KTG Solucije, as a bidder in certain public procurement procedures, was withdrawing its bids, which is why the contracting authorities were concluding contracts with the second-ranked bidder, the company Eco sense, but at higher prices compared to those offered by KTG Solucije. The subject matter of the disputed public procurement procedures were materials and means for maintaining the hygiene of facilities.

Apart from discovering about the withdrawal of bids, the Commission has, by analyzing the IP addresses (Internet Protocol addresses) from which the companies KTG Solucije d.o.o. and Eco sense d.o.o. were accessing the Public Procurement Portal in the said public procurement procedures, either to download the tender documents or to submit bids, noted that both companies were almost always accessing from identical IP addresses. The results of the analysis of the IP addresses indicate that both companies were accessing the Public Procurement Portal almost always from the devices which were connected through the same internet network, and possibly even from an identical device.

It was reasonably assumed that the companies KTG Solucije d.o.o. and Eco sense d.o.o., submitted bids, especially but not exclusively, in the analyzed public procurement procedures, contrary to the statements given in each individual public procurement procedure, i.e. it was reasonably assumed that the bids were not independently submitted, without the agreement with other bidders, which would constitute a competition infringement from Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition.

All persons who possess data, documents or other relevant information which may be significant for determining the facts in this case, are hereby invited to submit them to the Commission for Protection of Competition, at 25/IV Savska Street, Belgrade.

The Commission for Protection of Competition initiated ex officio proceedings against the company HOTELSKO, GOSTITELJSKO I TURISTIČKO PREDUZEĆE MOSKVA DOO BEOGRAD (STARI GRAD), in order to assess the concentration which was implemented even though it was not approved in accordance with the Law on Protection of Competition, and which had, according to the reasonable assumption, resulted from the acquisition of control by the company HOTELSKO, UGOSTITELJSKO I TURISTIČKO PREDUZEĆE MOSKVA over the operations of Hotel “Tonanti” in Vrnjačka Banja, which may represent an independent business entity.

In the investigation proceedings, the Commission will evaluate the criteria prescribed by the Law (Art. 19 of the Law on Protection of Competition) which determine the permissibility of a concentration, and in particular, the circumstance that the concentration under review had been implemented, but not notified, which was the obligation of market participants. The law stipulates that concentrations of market participants are allowed, unless they would significantly restrict, distort or prevent competition on the market of the Republic of Serbia, and especially if that restriction, distortion or prevention would be the result of creation or strengthening of a dominant position.

The Commission will determine the important facts, evidence and other elements on which it will base its decision regarding the possible determination of a measure of protection of competition, that is, a measure of deconcentration.

By way of conclusion on initiation of the proceedings, all persons who possess data, documents or other relevant information which can contribute to the establishment of the correct facts in this case are invited to submit them without delay to the Commission for the Protection of Competition at the address 25/IV Savska Street, Belgrade.