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.

Representatives of the Commission for the Protection of Competition met with the representatives of the OECD from the OECD Department for Southeast Europe and the OECD Department for Competition, as well as with a representative of the Republic Secretariat for Public Policies.

The meeting was held as part of the continuation of activities on the project “Fair Market Conditions for Competitiveness”, which the OECD has been implementing since 2019.

The objective of the meeting was to organize a joint workshop on the topic of assessing the impact of regulations on competition in the market, intended primarily for civil servants who work on the drafting of regulations at ministries and other organizations that exercise public authority.

The Commission for the Protection of Competition took part in the second annual conference of the Corporate Compliance Association on the topic of “Changing Perspectives” which was held in Belgrade. More than 180 participants took part in the conference, including lecturers and panelists from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia, who contributed to the promotion of corporate compliance.

The work of the Commission in the field of corporate compliance was presented within the panel on the topic of the future of the Compliance function. An overview of the Commission’s activities in the past two years was presented, which were undertaken in order to raise the level of awareness of corporate needs in accordance with regulations on competition protection, whereas the need for further education in this area was also highlighted.

In order to help market participants in the process of adopting a compliance program with the rules on competition protection, the Commission has prepared in hardcopy, the Guidelines for the development of a program of corporate compliance with the regulations on competition protection, the Model of the Corporate Compliance Program with the Regulations on competition protection accompanying the Guidelines and two checklists for compliance control and risk identification in English.

The aim of these materials is to guide market participants, both large and small and medium-sized companies, when drafting internal acts and regulations to ensure that their operations are in line with regulations on competition protection and to draw the attention of a wider circle of market participants to the need to harmonize corporate operations with this area of law.

The Guidelines with the accompanying documents are available on the Commission’s website and can be downloaded in hardcopy, both in Serbian and English, every business day at the Commission for the Protection of Competition, 25 Savska Street, Belgrade.