State Guarantee for Highway Construction is Not State Aid

The Council of the Competition Protection Agency (AZTN) has decided that the Proposal for the Decision on granting a state guarantee in favor of Privredna and Zagrebačka Bank for the loan of Hrvatske autoceste for financing the construction of highways from the Highway Construction and Maintenance Plan in 2007 is not state aid, AZTN reported.

    The Council bases its decision on the fact that the funds from the loan covered by the state guarantee are used for highway construction and therefore do not represent economic activity, but serve the common good and do not bring economic benefit to the entrepreneur. Furthermore, granting the guarantee cannot disrupt market competition to the extent that it could affect the fulfillment of Croatia’s internationally assumed obligations, the statement said.

Additionally, within the framework of the expert cooperation between AZTN and the Ministry of Culture on drafting the proposal for amendments to the Electronic Media Act, the Council has provided its proposals for amending this regulation from the perspective of market competition. The essence of the Council’s proposal is the need to abolish or significantly
amend all those provisions of the Electronic Media Act that attempt to protect media pluralism through the application of legal and policy instruments for the protection of market competition, AZTN stated.

At its 76th session, held on February 1, the Council also adopted the Agency’s Work Program for this and the next year, which establishes the main objectives of the Agency’s work and priorities in the implementation of laws and policies for the protection of market competition. As stated, emphasis is placed on the preparation and development of a legal framework that will give AZTN greater powers in enforcing the Law, particularly in the area concerning the punishment of law violators, and increasing the effectiveness of the market competition protection system in all economic sectors, including telecommunications and the banking sector.

At the same time, the Work Program anticipates more intensive work on tasks related to the analysis of individual markets to prevent possible cartel agreements and further strengthening of activities related to preventing the abuse of dominant positions by certain entrepreneurs, in accordance with European standards and practices, AZTN’s statement said.