Agreements Among Entrepreneurs: The Most Severe Form of Market Competition Violation

Today, it is considered worldwide that the most dangerous violations of market competition are those related to agreements on prices, market division, and other forms of agreements among direct competitors that harm consumers, emphasized today the President of the Competition Protection Agency, Olgica Spevec, at a seminar for around a hundred representatives of local authorities and the business community of the City of Zagreb and Zagreb County.

Such agreements are prohibited by our regulations, and the Agency’s task is to detect, prohibit, and severely punish those entrepreneurs who build their market position in this way, Spevec emphasized at the seminar conducted by the Competition Protection Agency as part of the IPA 2007 project “CRO Compete – Strengthening Competition Policy and State Aid in the Republic of Croatia.” The goal of the seminar is, the organizers reported, to inform entrepreneurs and representatives of local authorities about changes in the market competition protection system and the basics of granting state aid through practical advice and examples of the largest violations of market competition in the European Union.

Practical presentations on monopolies and abuse of dominant position, as well as examples of how to officially complain to the Agency about violations of market competition principles, were presented by Andre Bywater and Aini Proos, economic and legal experts from the European Union. Every entrepreneur in Croatia should know that they can report cases that disrupt market competition to the Competition Protection Agency, whether it concerns cartel activities, abuse of dominant position, certain restrictive provisions from distribution agreements, or the refusal of a large entrepreneur to supply small ones, said Andre Bywater, a legal expert on the CRO Compete project.

He noted that the complaint should contain as detailed a description of the non-competitive behavior as possible and be supported by evidence – price lists, written correspondence, statistical data, etc. “All whistleblowers are guaranteed anonymity and confidentiality, and under the new Competition Act, the AZTN can grant them immunity or even reduce the penalty,” emphasized Bywater. Regarding state aid, it was highlighted at the seminar that it is not granted for the survival of companies, but can be granted once to a company in difficulty if it submits a sustainable restructuring plan. In the European Union in 2008, a total of 2.79 billion euros was allocated from the budget for state aid, which is 2.2 percent of the EU GDP. (H)