The Commission for Protection of Competition’s Guidelines for Drafting Competition Compliance Programs, with the Template Competition Compliance Program accompanying the Guidelines and two Competition Checklists for assessing exposure of undertakings to risks of competition infringements, have been nominated this year for the Antitrust Writing Awards, organized by Concurrences and George Washington University. The aim of the Antitrust Writing Awards is to promote competition scholarship and contribute to competition advocacy in the legal and economic fields.

The publication in English is nominated in the section of the best Soft Laws & Studies of competition authorities in the subcategory “Europe”. The Commission is in the same category with the European Commission and competition authorities of the UK, France, Austria, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Turkey.

The “Best Soft Laws & Studies” selection aims to contribute to developing antitrust culture and awareness. It seeks to support international antitrust advocacy by drawing attention to the most meaningful non-enforcement documents published by competition agencies such as guidelines, market studies, etc. It aims at singling out some of the most interesting administration practices that could be usefully applied more generally.

As in previous years, the nominations are evaluated by a jury composed of leading antitrust enforcers, academics, and counsel and at the same time there is an audience vote.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition in cooperation with the Student Association for International Cooperation (SAIC) of the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade organized a student visit to the Commission.

The academics had the opportunity to be acquainted with the basic principles of competition protection policy and to gain direct insight into the work and functioning of the Commission.

By organizing such student visits, the Commission aims to raise interest and motivate students to engage in competition protection throughout their academic work, as well as to find interest in this field for a potential professional career.

With eleven years of existence, over 2,000 members and with over 1,000 projects implemented, SAIC has helped students in pursue of their further professional path.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition participated in the 22nd annual conference “Global Forum on Competition”, which is traditionally organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), at its headquarters in Paris.

Upon a special invitation of the OECD, within the panel “Alternatives to the Leniency Programmes”, the Commission’s work method was presented, which refers to the proactive independent detection of cartels without relying on the leniency program, reports or cooperation with other authorities. The presentation attracted considerable attention from the representatives of the competition protection authorities present and was accompanied by questions, discussion and positive evaluations.

To this year’s conference, which took place from December 7 to 8, 2023, guests from around 110 competition protection authorities and international organizations were invited, and the topics were: “From globalization to regionalization”, “Alternatives to the leniency programmes”, “Using economic evidence in cartel cases” and “Ex-post evaluation of measures imposed in merger investigation procedures”

The conference represented a good way of connecting the Commission with representatives of competition protection authorities from all over the world and directly presenting the work of the Commission in an international framework.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition ex officio continued the procedure initiated by the notification of the concentration resulting from the acquisition of individual control by the commercial company Atlantic Grand doo Beograd, over the commercial company Strauss Adriatic doo Šimanovci, by the purchase of shares, in order to examine whether the reported concentration meets the conditions of permissibility from Article 19 of the Law on the Protection of Competition, i.e. whether the implementation of this concentration would significantly restrict, distort or prevent competition on the market of the Republic of Serbia or part thereof, and especially if such restriction, distortion or prevention would be the result of the creation or strengthening of a dominant position.

In the investigation procedure, the commission will carry out all the necessary actions and establish all the facts and present evidence in order to assess the criteria prescribed by the Law (Article 19 of LPC) which determines the permissibility of the concentration.

By virtue of the conclusion by which the procedure was continued ex officio, all persons having data, documents or other relevant information that can contribute to establishing the correct factual situation in this procedure are invited to submit them without delay to the Commission for the Protection of Competition at the address 25/IV Savska Street, Belgrade.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of application of competition law with the Georgian National Competition Agency during the II International Conference on Competition and Consumer Protection held in Tbilisi.

This Memorandum, signed by Commission Council member Čedomir Radojčić and President of the National Competition Agency of Georgia Irakli Lekvinadze, is aimed at improving the cooperation in the field of competition protection as well as further development of bilateral relations.

Also within the panel “Restrictive agreements, effective mechanisms for detection and prevention”, member of the Council of the Commission Čedomir Radojčić held a presentation of the Business Compliance Program Model with regulations on competition protection with Guidelines and lists for compliance control and risk identification which was developed by the Commission.
The heads of state authorities of Georgia, representatives of regulatory bodies, experts from relevant fields and agencies of other countries, representatives of international organizations (UNCTAD, OECD, etc.), media and others participated in the conference as well.

The objective of this meeting, organized by the Georgian National Competition Agency, the National Bank of Georgia, the Georgian National Regulatory Commission for Energy and Water Supply, the National Communications Commission and the State Oversight Service of Georgia, was to exchange experiences and best international practices, improve joint action and establish cooperation between participants.