The COVID-19 outbreak and the measures the government had to put in place to try to contain the coronavirus will certainly have an effect on the Serbian economy. How will the expected state support to businesses be assessed under Serbia’s State aid rules?
Following a Phase II investigation started back in April, the Serbian national competition authority (NCA) has cleared an acquisition in the baking industry – with strings attached.
Nine years after the adoption of the current Law on the Control of State Aid, Serbia is set to get a new legislation in this field. The proclaimed purpose of the new law is to regulate State aid issues in a more precise and complete manner than the current one.
Serbia has had modern competition enforcement for more than a decade, which is sufficient time for an assessment of which parts of the system can be modified for the better. While the list is not exhaustive, here are five things which could make antitrust enforcement in Serbia better:
Last year Serbia reached an important milestone: the number of mergers examined by the country’s competition authority has surpassed 1,000. The milestone was reached after a decade of modern competition law enforcement in Serbia. With most of the relevant data publicly available, it is interesting to crunch the numbers and see the main characteristics of the enforcement activity in the field of mergers. Continue Reading
Serbia
2016: Serbian Commission reaches 1,000 mergers milestone, imposes second highest fine ever
Posted on January 15, 2017The last year was quite dynamic for me personally, as I decided to set up my own law practice. And it was not less exciting for Serbian antitrust:
1,000 mergers mark passed
Last year the Serbian Competition Commission was celebrating its first ten years and in the process it set an important marker – the authority has now officially examined more than one thousand mergers. More precisely, the count is at 1,036.
A large majority of mergers notified to the Serbian Competition Commission raise little or no competition concern. Their filing is in many cases simply an administrative burden, with no relevance for protection of competition. So, can these notifications be avoided? Actually, they can – even without changes in the law.