Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions and Current Changes of Slovak Competition and Civil Law

Author(s): Ondrej Blažo / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2015

Slovak competition law enforcement can be characterized by infrequency of leniency applications and near absence of private enforcement. As a result, the adoption of the Damages Directive is not likely to cause substantial breakthrough in Slovakia, be it with respect to the rate of leniency applications or in private enforcement. A comprehensive amendment of Slovak competition law took place in 2014. Changes introduced therein reflected, among other things, the practice of the European Commission regarding access to its file. A new approach was also introduced towards damages claims submitted against leniency applicants. The paper will first consider the question whether it is necessary to further redesign these new Slovak rules because of the adoption of the Damages Directive, or if they have been successfully pre-harmonized. Along with changes to Slovak competition law, procedural rules for civil courts were also re-codified. Hence the second part of this analysis will focus on the question if a new civil procedure framework, including obligatory harmonization, could foster private enforcement of competition law. Summarizing the resulting answers, the third question focuses on who could benefit from further changes to Slovak legislation – final consumers or enterprises that are involved in the production chain. Finally, will changes in Slovak legislation driven by the Directive be coherent with its overall legal system, or will they appear to be an odd and peculiar piece of legislation?

Abuse Regulation in Competition Law: Past, Present and Future. 10th Annual ASCOLA. Tokyo, 21–23 May 2015

Author(s): Krzysztof Rokita / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2015

International Conference on the Harmonisation of Private Antitrust Enforcement: A Central and Eastern European Perspective. Supraśl, 2–4 July 2015

Author(s): Paulina Korycińska-Rządca / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2015

2nd International PhD Students Seminar. Competition Law in Portugal and Poland. Białystok, 1 July 2015

Author(s): Teresa Kaczyńska-Kochaniec / Language(s): English Issue: 12/2015

Leniency – the Polish Programme and the ‘Semi-formal’ Harmonisation in the EU by the European Competition Network

Author(s): Marcin Kulesza / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

When studying the legal character of the Polish leniency programme, one cannot overlook its origin and the harmonisation process of such programmes in the EU. From the beginning, the Polish programme has been, as it should be, bound to the EU programme and to the European Competition Network’s Model Leniency Programme. The paper briefly presents the European roots of the Polish leniency programme, its original convergence with the Commission’s programme and its current convergence with the Model Leniency Programme. In addition, the status of the Model Leniency Programme is analysed and questioned and its provisions are presented in the context of the evolution of Polish leniency. Some additions to the current Polish programme are suggested in conclusion.

Competition Law in Kosovo: Problems and Challenges

Author(s): Orhan M. Çeku / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

Competition Law is an important aspect of free market economy. It determines the functioning of the economic system based on the free market principles of supply and demand. Competition law is in the initial stage of its implementation in the Republic of Kosovo. Its development began in 2004 with the adoption of Kosovo’s Law on Competition, the country’s very first law passed to regulate the legal basis of free market competition. The Law on Competition of 2004 had many shortcomings both with respect to its content and implementation. New legislation was thus passed in 2010 under the name the Law on the Protection of Competition. The latter act is in force now along with an Amendment that entered into force in early 2014. Taken in its entirety, Kosovo’s competition law meets the standards and is in accordance with EU legislation. Kosovo, although it is only in the initial stage of its contractual relations with the EU, has aligned most of its laws with the requirements of EU legislation. Kosovo is Europe’s youngest country and as such, it has various problems when it comes to the functioning of the rule of law. This paper will discuss several topics related to the development of competition law in Kosovo including: the political, legal and economical situation in the field of competition law; the legal bases for the protection of competition in Kosovo; the Kosovo Competition Authority and the insufficiency in its capacities to combat competition law infringements; legal provisions on restrictive practices and merger control. The paper also includes comprehensive conclusions. A number of competition cases deal with by the Kosovo Competition Authority will be mentioned throughout the paper.

Review of Ten Years of Albanian Competition Law Developments

Author(s): Ermal Nazifi,Petrina Broka / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

Albania was one of the last countries in Europe to adopt a free market economy after suffering from one of the worst dictatorial communist regimes in the world. In order to succeed in its efforts to establish a free market economy, Albania needed to undertake a set of reforms to modernize its economy in order to cope with the new reality of global markets and Euro-Atlantic integration. An important aspect of these reforms is also the implementation of a competition law in line with the acquis an its effective implementation. A lot has been achieved in the last ten years but there is a lot to be done still in order to facilitate a competitive economy able to cope with Albania’s EU integration. The work of the ACA is only one aspect of this process, but it is of utmost importance for the development of the national economy and successful EU membership

Economic Determinants of Regulatory Decisions in the Polish elecommunications Sector

Author(s): Ewa M. Kwiatkowska / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

The main policy goals undertaken by public authorities, primarily increasingly competitive telecommunication markets, are achieved through various and distinct administrative actions. Ex post public interventions are meant to protect competition by responding to actions that restrict or violate free market competition (proceedings concerning: the abuse of a dominant position and anti-competitive agreements). Ex ante interventions shapes the relationships among market participants in the framework of merger control and pro-competitive sector-specific regulation. The aim of this study is to determine to what an extent economic criteria are used in the assessment of the competitiveness of Polish telecommunication markets by the competition authority and the Telecoms Regulator (respectively, the President of UOKiK, and the President of UKE) in four distinct types of competition related proceedings: merger control, abuse of a dominant position, anti-competitive agreements, and sector-specific regulation. The paper presents the results of an analysis of qualitative and quantitative criteria applied in decisions (and resolutions) issued by both of the authorities in the past eleven years (2003–2013). To this end, 194 publicly available decisions were analysed

2014 Amendment of the Polish Competition and Consumers Protection Act 2007

Author(s): Tadeusz Skoczny / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

The article presents a critical analysis of changes introduced into the Polish Competition Act of 2007 by the Amendment Act of 2014. The declared purpose of the Amendment was mainly to increase the effectiveness of the enforcement of the antitrust prohibitions, including the introduction of conduct remedies in antitrust cases, the settlement procedure and fines for individuals, changes in the Polish Leniency Programme and inspection powers, as well as simplifying and shortening merger control proceedings. Considered in the paper is the thesis that some of these changes were not introduced properly; in particular, that the new provisions fail to sufficiently safeguard the rights of undertakings, and that the amendment is an inadequate step towards the convergence of the Polish competition law system with the enforcement rules of the EU and its other Member States. Further changes to the Polish Competition Act of 2007 are therefore needed. The paper does not cover changes introduced by the Amendment Act of 2014 to Poland’s consumer protection provisions.

New Procedural Notices of the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition: Leniency, Settlement, and Alternative Problem Resolution

Author(s): Petra Joanna Pipková,Ivo Šimeček / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

Competition Policy Developments in Lithuania in 2013

Author(s): Raimundas Moisejevas,Monika Dapkutė / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

The most recent Amendment to the Law on Competition of the Republic of Lithuania (hereafter, the Law on Competition) were adopted by the Lithuanian Parliament on 23 December 2013 and came into force on 8 January 2014. The Amendment altered Lithuanian provisions on the payment of fines imposed by the Competition Commission by undertakings. Accordingly, the Law on Competition gives now the fined undertakings the right not to pay their fine until the courts adopt a final ruling in their case. However, annual interest for period of the payment delay will be calculated and added to the original amount of the fine. The following review focuses on the adoption and effects of this Amendment.

Recent Developments in the Competition Law of Georgia. Changes Resulting from the Association Agreement

Author(s): Solomon Menabdishvili / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

Protection of Legal Professional Privilege in the European Union, Turkey and Ukraine

Author(s): Hanna Stakheyeva / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

The objectives of competition law and the effective conduct of the infringement proceedings: Judgments of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in BH Telecom and Telekomunikacije RS.

Author(s): Alexandr Svetlicinii / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

Kseniya Smyrnova, Pravove regulyuvannya konkurencii v Evropeis’komu Soyuzi: teoriya i praktuka [Legal Regulation of Competition in European Union: theory and practice], Odessa 2015, 432 p.

Author(s): Korotkyi Tymur / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

Kseniya Smyrnova, EU Competition Law, Odesa 2013, 144 p.

Author(s): Roman Petrov / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

The Milestones of Law in the Area of Central Europe 2014. Casta-Papernicka (Slovakia), 27–29 March 2014

Author(s): Maciej Gac / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2015

Editorial foreword

Author(s): Ewelina D. Sage / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2014

The Interaction between EU Competition Law Procedures and Fundamental Rights Protection: the Case of the Right to Be Heard

Author(s): Elsbeth Beumer / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2014

This paper analyses the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on the rights of defence as enshrined in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In particular, it assesses Strasbourg jurisprudence on the right to be heard and on the right to access documents. The paper considers whether the practice in EU competition law procedures complies with the fair trial standards that follow from Strasbourg judgments. Based on this assessment, the paper provides an answer to the question whether there is an overcompensation or undercompensation of fundamental rights protection in EU competition law procedures.

The “Regulatory Authority Dixit” Defence in European Competition Law Enforcement

Author(s): Pierluigi Congedo / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2014

The European Commission (EC) and the European Courts have being reaffirming in the Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica cases that guide-prices established by sector regulators upon electronic communications incumbents cannot per se exclude that conducts with anticompetitive foreclosure effects, such as margin squeeze, undertaken within the boundaries of those pre-established prices, can be considered abusive under Article 102 TFEU. The paper aims at showing that the reasoning put forward by the EC and the Courts not only dismantles the defensive reasoning put forward by the incumbents before the EC and on appeal before the Courts but actually reaffirms the centrality of the enforcement activity of the EC. The paper examines the reasoning behind the “regulatory authority’s instructions defence” – the argument of the incumbents stating that their actions were justified because they had set their wholesale access prices and retail prices in line with the guidelines imposed by the sectorial regulators. Recalled in this context were also the principles of proportionality, subsidiarity and fair cooperation between the EC and individual Member States The affirmation of the “heliocentric” doctrine that puts the EC at the hearth of competition law enforcement vis á vis national regulators and domestic legislation (provided decisions of the regulatory authorities can be considered secondary law sources) should take into consideration the important precedent of Consorzio Industrie Fiammiferi . The latter affirms that competition authorities can automatically put aside legislation that goes against Article 101 TFEU. However, they cannot impose pecuniary fines when certain behaviours are imposed by national legislation (while they can impose fines if those behaviours were suggested or facilitated by national legislation).