The Commission for Protection of Competition and public prosecutors’ offices held a joint workshop to exchange experiences regarding public procurement procedures in which violations of competition, as stipulated in Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition, were identified. This workshop was organized by the Judicial Academy as part of the USAID project aimed at improving public procurement.

The workshop presented and analyzed measures for the protection of competition and the leniency program under the Law on Protection of Competition. It also addressed restrictive agreements and the specifics of administrative procedures related to public procurement, where violations of competition as outlined in Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition were identified. Additionally, it covered prosecutorial practices concerning the conditions for criminal prosecution of offenses related to abuse in connection with public procurement under Article 228, paragraph 1, and the conclusion of restrictive agreements under Article 229, paragraph 1, of the Criminal Code and the conditions for optional exemption from penalties as stipulated in Article 229, paragraph 2, of the Criminal Code.

Following discussions at the workshop, conclusions and recommendations were adopted to define the scope and possibilities for collaboration between the Commission for Protection of Competition and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The workshop was attended by public prosecutors from Belgrade, Niš, Novi Sad, and Kraljevo, as well as representatives from the Commission for Protection of Competition.

The Commission for Protection of Competition, in partnership with the OECD Competition Division and the OECD Southeast Europe Division, as well as the Republic Secretariat for Public Policies, conducted a seminar focused on assessing the impact of regulations on market competition.

The seminar featured addresses from Čedomir Radojčić, a member of the Council of the Commission for Protection of Competition; Sanja Mešanović, Deputy Director of the Republic Secretariat for Public Policies; and Gordana Lukić, Head of the Sector for Legal Affairs, Domestic and International Cooperation at the Commission for Protection of Competition.

The seminar was attended by civil servants involved in drafting regulations at ministries and other organizations exercising public authority. The seminar was also supported through the OECD project “Fair Market Conditions for Competitiveness” (https://www.oecd.org/south-east-europe/programme/fair-market-conditions-adriatic.htm).

The Commission’s guidelines for drafting compliance programs, with the accompanying model and compliance checklists, won this year’s Antitrust Writing Awards readers vote award in the section of the best “Soft Law” materials of competition authorities (Soft Laws & Studies – Best ” soft laws” and studies) in the region of Europe. The full name of the award is “Best Soft Law, Europe, Readers Choice – 2024 Antitrust Writing Awards”.

These prestigious awards are organized by the publication Concurrences and George Washington University, and the goal is to promote the study of competition law and contribute to the promotion and advocacy of competition protection (antitrust advocacy) in the spheres of law and economics.

The Commission’s publication is one of the eight awarded “Soft Law” materials of competition authorities, and in addition to the Commission’s guidelines, the works of the European Commission and the competition protection bodies of the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Turkey, were eligible for votes in the category “Europe”.

The selection of the Best “soft laws” and studies aims to contribute to the development of the culture and awareness of competition protection. This category seeks to support the international promotion and advocacy of competition protection (antitrust advocacy) by highlighting the most expedient and relevant materials of competition protection bodies that do not refer to specific subjects and procedures, such as guidelines, market analyses, etc. It aims to single out some of the most interesting administrative practices that could be applied more often and more widely.

The Commission, based on publicly available data, has been notified on the intent of all three mobile operators to increase the prices of their services. However, based on this fact alone it cannot be concluded it is a behavior that is potentially contrary to the Law on Protection of Competition.

As in all other cases, in this specific case, in order for the Commission to determine it is a prohibited behavior, legal procedure must be implemented beforehand to determine the existence of antitrust infringements. The purpose of procedure implementation is to collect facts that could prove the violation of the Law on Protection of Competition.

However, considering there is a formal, legally prescribed standard for initiation of procedure in front of the Commission, which is the well-founded presumption antitrust infringement has occurred, it is necessary to determine the merits of statements and review the facts beforehand. In case it is subsequently concluded there is a reasonable doubt that detected behavior is the result of illegal action, the Commission shall initiate the procedure of reviewing antitrust infringement.

Since, in line with the Law on Protection of Competition, the Commission has different mechanisms available to collect the necessary facts, the Commission shall not announce its possible intention to act in specific cases.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition and the National Competition Commission of Paraguay (CONACOM – Comisión Nacional de la Competencia) held a joint online session where representatives of the Commission presented the working method related to the independent detection of cartels without relying on the leniency program,notifications or cooperation with other authorities.

Officials and representatives of the Paraguayan authorities were explained the cartel detection method developed by the Commission and were familiarized with its practice regarding the detection and proof of concerted practices as a type of restrictive agreement.

The collaboration took place during the 22nd annual conference “Global Competition Forum” Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) held in Paris, where CONACOM officials expressed interest in the method presented by the Commission for the Protection of Competition.

A member of the Council of the National Competition Commission of Paraguay, Eduardo Barros, expressed his gratitude to the Commission for the presentation held to CONACOM employees.