AZTN Accepted Lower Interest Rates on HBOR Loans

The Council for the Protection of Market Competition has approved, at the request of the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR), the Regulation on Basic Conditions for Financing Certain Target Groups, based on which HBOR will grant loans to entrepreneurs at a subsidized interest rate for specific investments, it was announced today by the Council.

Based on the Regulation, HBOR will grant loans to entrepreneurs at a subsidized interest rate lower than the market rate, among other things, for initial investments in the category of regional state aid, support for small and medium-sized enterprises, for research and development and innovation, as well as for environmental protection.

When approving loans for financing environmental protection and research and development and innovation, HBOR will, as stated, apply the General Block Exemption Regulation of the European Commission No. 800/2008, which has been in effect since August 6, 2008, for certain categories of state aid in Croatia in accordance with Article 70 of the Stabilization and Association Agreement and Article 6, Paragraph 4 of the State Aid Act.

The Council also reported that, based on requests from several cable distribution service providers, it has initiated proceedings to determine the prevention, restriction, or distortion of market competition through the abuse of a dominant position against the Croatian Society of Composers – Protection of Copyright in Music (HDS-ZAMP), in which it will determine whether HDS-ZAMP applies unequal conditions in the calculation of copyright fees for individual service providers.

The Agency for the Protection of Market Competition is simultaneously conducting proceedings against HDS-ZAMP to determine the conditions and methods for determining the amounts of copyright fees for those obligated to pay these fees in the sale of audio-video devices and blank media for sound, image, and text (CD and DVD recorders, memory cards, USB sticks, blank CD and DVD media). The Agency is also collecting data on the method of determining copyright fees for those obligated in the hospitality industry, as stated in the announcement. (H)