Commitment Procedure under Serbian Competition Act

The Serbian Competition Act1, which has been in force since November 2009, was amended in 2013 in order to improve the effective enforcement of competition rules by the Commission for Protection of Competition (hereinafter, the Commission or Competition Commission), and to further harmonise national regulations with the EU acquis in the area of protection of competition. The 2009 Competition Act (hereianfter, the Act), which introduced some modern competition protection concepts into the Serbian legal system, had certain deficiencies which hindered the practical application of the statute and, consequently, effective enforcement by the Commission. In addition to the existing provisions of the Act, the legislator introduced a novelty that will, beyond any doubt, produce considerable effects on the Commission’s actions in deciding on competition infringement cases. The novelty concerns the introduction of the so-called commitment procedure, which allows the Commission to close a competition infringement case by accepting commitments offered by the undertakings concerned, without establishing whether there has been an infringement. The instrument has turned out to be exceptionally effective in closing proceedings before the competition authorities of the EU and the Member States. The concept ensures procedural economy, as the Commission need not to establish the existence of the infringement, which makes the proceedings shorter and more appropriate particularly for more dynamic sectors of the economy, while the actual concerns about the market are effectively addressed. Further, the concept is favourable for the undertakings concerned as it enables them to propose measures they believe will resolve suspicions of competition law infringement, thus bringing proceedings to an end without finding the infringement, allowing them to avoid high fines and potential actions for damages.