President of the Commission for Protection of Competition Dr. Miloje Obradović participated at the 2018 Kopaonik Business Forum – panel discussion “Antitrust compliance: Where companies go wrong and how to prevent them from doing so?”.

Besides Dr. Obradović, competition panel participants were Prof. Dr. Miroljub Labus (Faculty of Law in Belgrade), Ana Tozzi (Foreign Investors Council) and Dragan Lupšić (Coca-Cola), while Prof. Dr. Dragan Lončar (Faculty of Economics in Belgrade) moderated the discussion.

President Dr. Obradović underlined that a qualitative legal framework is the key prerequisite for efficient implementation of antitrust policy, in addition to the institutional independence of competition authorities. Of no less importance is consistent implementation of regulations, said Dr. Obradović.

“Our goal is to create a competitive market where undertakings will increase their productivity, innovations and investments, consequently generating economic prosperity, well-being of the society and the benefit of the consumers. For that reason, the Commission sees the increase of influence of antitrust policy on the economy as its key mission”, underlined the Commission President.

Dr. Obradović emphasized that the Commission will be even more focused on intensified regional cooperation in the period to come, and announced soon opening of the Western Balkans Forum of Competition Authorities, headquartered in Belgrade. The Commission implements this project under the auspices of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with the support of the European Commission.

“What do we expect in the future: tradition – to continue with our track record, trust – to continue building it even further, transparency – to secure legal safety for undertakings by having a consistent approach to proceedings, but also the positioning of the Commission and further organic growth and institutional strengthening”, said Dr. Obradović during the panel discussion.

Ana Tozzi underlined the importance of creating an equal-level playing field. “The country is accessing to the EU, and the economy should be able to handle the competitive pressure, and to do so, you need to have a company built on strong foundations”, Tozzi concluded at the panel
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Prof. Dr. Labus reminded the audience that not so long ago Serbia was outside the market trends. For that reason, the key task of competition policy today is to prevent abuses of dominance in all sectors of the economy.

During the panel discussion, Dragan Lupšić underlined the importance of education of all undertakings on antitrust policy.

The competition panel was attended by a great number of the Business Forum participants, representatives of the academic and expert public, companies and law offices.

At this year’s Business Forum, the Commission is also represented by members of the CPC Council Mirjana Mišković Vukašinović and Marko Obradović, in addition to Dr. Siniša Milošević, Head of the Economic Analysis Division and Gordana Lukić, Special Advisor at the Assessment of Concentrations Division.