Within the project “Effective Public Procurement in the Service of Economic Growth”, implemented by the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED) with the support of Swedish Agency for International Development (SIDA), a round table was held on the 30 November 2022 named “Protection of Competition in Public Procurement”.

The foreign guest at the round table was Mr. Gianluca Sepe from the Italian competition authority, who presented the practice, challenges and recommendations from this area. The domestic participants included representatives from the Commission for Protection of Competition, Public Procurement Office, Republic Commission for the protection of rights in public procurement procedures and Anti-corruption agency.

The purpose of the round table was emphasizing the importance of competition protection in procedures of public procurement and additional connecting and strengthening of cooperation between the institutions that are competent for this area.

Final conference of the project was organized on 01 December 2022 with attendance of high officials.

The Organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD) together with the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, held a conference where the results of the OECD project entitled “Fair market conditions for competitiveness” were presented.

Member of the Council of the Commission, Čedomir Radojčić, participated in a panel dedicated to the topic of strengthening competition protection in the Republic of Serbia, with special reference to the Commission’s role in increasing the level of competitiveness of the national market and the tools it has at its disposal in terms of raising awareness of the need for and ways to comply with the rules protection of competition.

During the conference, held in the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, the work of the Commission for the Protection of Competition was positively evaluated by OECD experts in the presentation regarding the state of competition in the Republic of Serbia.

An international conference on the implementation of competition policy and consumer protection was held in Georgia on November 16 and 17, 2022, in which the Commission for the Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia participated.

The two-day event was jointly organized by the Georgian National Competition Agency, the National Bank of Georgia, the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission, the National Communications Commission, and the Insurance State Supervision Service of Georgia.

The conference was attended by more than 15 delegations of competition protection bodies from different countries, domestic and international experts, representatives of public agencies, the academic community, international organizations and the business sector. The meeting discussed competition law mechanisms, consumer rights protection, cases and activities carried out by competition protection bodies and regulatory agencies.

The parallel session topic also covered: Competition policy and sustainable development; Competition policy on regulated markets/interagency cooperation; Indirect mechanisms of application of the Law on Protection of Competition (Advocacy); Refusal of business as a form of abuse (Essential Facility); etc.

The Commission’s delegation consisted of: Council member Miroslava Đošić, Head of the Sector for Determination of Competition Infringements Marina Joksimović and Head of the Sector for Normative – Legal, Personnel and General Affairs Milica Stanković.

The Commission for Protection of Competition in cooperation with the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC) presented to market participants new Guidelines for the development of business compliance programs with regulations on competition protection in all major cities in Serbia.

Presentation in the Regional Chamber of Commerce of the South Banat administrative region in Novi Sad, third in a row, was held as a thematic meeting of the Parliament of the businessmen in an extended attendance related to the topic “Business compliance programs with rules on competition protection”.

Čedomir Radojčić, member of the council of the Commission for Protection of Competition and Maja Dobrić, independent advisor, presented the attendees with the rules from the area of protection of competition and Guidelines for the development of business compliance programs.

In order to assist market participants in the process of adopting a compliance compliance program, the Commission briefly describes and clarifies these “steps” in these workshops and guidelines in the adoption of such programs as well as competition rules.
The next presentation of Guidelines shall be held on 15 December in Kragujevac, in the Regional Chamber of Commerce of the Šumadijski and Pomoravski administrative region.

Commission for the protection of competition initiated the procedure of examination of competition infringements, ex officio, in order to determine the existence of abuse of a dominant position, in the sense of Article 16 of the Law on the Protection of Competition against the company Glovoapp Tecchnology doo Beograd (Glovo) and carried out dawn raids in its premises.

During the analysis of the conditions of competition in the field of digital platforms for mediating the sale and delivery of mainly restaurant food and other products, the Commission observed contractual provisions in the contracts concluded by Glovo with its partners, which could result in the exclusion or difficulty of the expansion of other competitive platforms, as well as provisions that may result in discrimination of partners through the application of unequal business conditions, all of which constitutes an abuse of a dominant position.

Namely, certain contracts and general conditions of business with partners contain a prescribed fee that the partner is obliged to pay if it enters into similar partnerships with other platforms, i.e. high amounts are offered in the form of investment for marketing, with the obligation to return the amount if cooperation with another platform is established.

The application of unequal business conditions to the same agreements with different market participants is primarily reflected in the form of different commissions to different partners, and depending on whether they cooperate only with Glovo or with competing platforms.

Including such exclusivity clauses in contracts with partners or various forms of incentives or pressures to maintain exclusivity, could exclude competitors from the market or reduce their ability to compete, which could ultimately lead to higher prices, less choice and lower quality offers, all to the detriment of consumers.

After taking over the Donesi platform in 2021, the company Glovo significantly expanded its business network and drastically increased its market share and gained a dominant position, which also changed the structure of this market. As such, it has a special responsibility in relation to the actions it undertakes in the market.

The Commission hereby invites all persons who have data, documents or other relevant information that can contribute to establishing the factual situation in this procedure to submit them to the address of the Commission for the Protection of Competition, 25/IV Savska Street, Belgrade.