The Commission for Protection of Competition has organized a public debate in Novi Sad dedicated to discussing potential solutions towards advancing competition policy and law in the Republic of Serbia.

This is otherwise the third public debate organized by the Commission for Protection of Competition on the topic of new legal solutions governing competition policy. The previous two were organized late in the year in Kragujevac and Niš. Experts on competition law and policy, representatives of the Commission and members of the Working group for drafting new competition act have participated in the debate as panelists.

In her keynote address given before a packed audience in the AP Vojvodina Assembly Hall, Gordana Lukić, Head of the CPC Merger Investigation Division and a member of the Working group for drafting new competition act, emphasized that the current legal framework governing competition policy has proven to be good, but is necessary to constantly upgrade it.

- One of the reasons for this is certainly the further alignment of the Serbian legal framework with the EU acquis, but primarily with the current Law on General Administrative Procedure. Our goal is to advance the procedural rights of the parties in specific administrative procedures initiated before the Commission. We believe that legal certainty and predictability of the Commission’s treatments will be further advanced in such manner, which is of paramount importance for all undertakings, Lukić underlined.

Ivan Đoković, Provincial Secretary for Economy and Tourism, emphasized his great pleasure to be able to take part in the debate that he considers highly important, together with the industry representatives, members of academia, and experts of Novi Sad and Vojvodina.

- We will play a full role in the drafting of a new competition act since we believe that entrepreneurs find further improvements of the legal framework in this area of high interest and major importance. The industry recognizes the significance of a level playing field where all are competing on an equivalent basis, because that allows us to reach increased productivity levels and economic growth, Đoković told the audience.

Public debates in this series of meetings are organized as part of the project “Increasing economic growth through support to the promotion of competition policy”, supported by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.