The Slovak Republic - Report on Implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. This report evaluates the success in application of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and the 1997 Revised Recommendation in the Slovak Republic. Source: OECD, 2 December 2005. Read more

The Czech Office for the Protection of Competition imposed by the decision of 24th November 2005 the fine amounting to 205 million CZK (approx. 7,1 million €) upon the company Český Telecom for infringement of the Article 82 of the EC Treaty. Český Telecom offered from 2002 to its end – customers unregulated price plans that comprise a monthly lump – sum payment for a lease of telephone station an unoparable part of which are call credits or free minutes for „free“ calling, and a service called „the Internet Express“ in addition to that a customer obtains a „Universal type“ price plan at an advantaged price of the monthly lump for the first hour of calling is charged to the customers. By this services it impeded the development of competition and created barriers to the entry of new operators to the market, the development of current alternative operators and limited the consumers‘ possibility of obtaining services of the highest possible quality at a competitive price.

Source: The Czech Office for the Protection of Competition, 30 November 2005. Read more

The Competition Committee of OECD recommended to the Council of the organization that Romania should be accepted as observer. The recommendation came at the end of October 2005 following the official demand of Romania. This is a step forward on the way to full membership of the Organisation for Cooperation and  Economic Development in Europe. The Romanian Competition Council is lobbying the structures of the Organisation and the member states authorities in order to plead for Romania’s candidate-ship. The participation to the Committee’s works will give to the Romanian Council the opportunity to obtain more experience and to speed the progresses made in the field of competition.

Source: The Romanian Competition Council, 3 November 2005. Read more

As a follow up of the Competition Council’s investigation on the Romanian cement market the cement prices are lowering. During the months of May and August 2005, the cement producers registered a diminution of prices with 6% of the most sold cement types. This is an important figure as the prices for construction materials are generally registering a uprising trend.

Source: The Romanian Competition Council, Press Release, 17 October 2005. Read more

The Hungarian Competition Council imposed a fine of HUF 593,9 million (ca. EUR 2,4 million) on 8 construction companies for the rigging of their bids in respect of a road construction work put out to tender. The bids in the public procurement deal were invited by the Municipality of Budapest. The members of the cartel agreed which one of them was to win the public procurement contract and to employ then the others as subcontractors to the project.

Source: The Hungarian Competition Council, 16 September 2005. Read more

A bank condemned by the Competition Authority - the Competition Council of the Hungarian Competition Authority adopted a decision in a public trial in which it declared the conduct of Trading and Credit Bank as deceiving consumers by its savings account. The Competition Council prohibited the continuation of the conduct which violated the provisions of the Hungarian Competition Act, and imposed a fine of 10 M Ft on the bank in question. Source: The Hungarian Competition Authority. Read more

The Hungarian Competition Council obliged the Hungarian Medical Chamber to amend its Code of Ethics. The anti-competitive provisions of the Code were the restricting price competition among doctors and advertising. The Council ordered the enforcement of its earlier final decisions where it obliged the Hungarian Medical Chamber not to apply and to delete the unlawful prohibitive provisions, in respect of providing medical services at fees below of what had been recommended by the chamber and advertising medical services. Source: The Hungarian Competition Authority.  Read more

Annual Report on Competition in Estonia - 2004  The Community competition rules were modernised on 1 May 2004, based on Council Regulation 1/2003 (the so-called modernisation regulation) and these changes led to the amend of the Estonian legislation. A draft Competition Act Amendment Act was prepared; the new Act was adopted by the Estonian Parliament and came in force on 1 August 2004. Amending the Penal Code was also one of the most significant changes, as a result of which abuse of dominant position, if it takes place for the first time, is not any more considered to be a criminal act but a misdemeanor. Source: The Estonian Competition Council. Read more

The Commission on Protection of Competition from Bulgaria imposed a BGN 50,000 pecuniary sanction on “Bulgarian-Ukrainian Trade Centre” EOOD, Sofia for infringement of Article 30 of the LPC.

Source: The Commission on Protection of Competition from Bulgaria. Read more

The Commission on Protection of Competition from Bulgaria imposed a BGN 5,000 pecuniary sanction on “CITY GROUP” EOOD, Blagoevgrad for infringement of Article 30 of the LPC.

Source: The Commission on Protection of Competition from Bulgaria. Read more

Competition Advocacy in Regulated Sectors: Examples of Success. Building on the work of the Advocacy Working Group of the International Competition Network, at the International Competition Network Annual Conference in Seoul, 2005, the Subgroup 4 examined advocacy efforts of more than 30 members, with a particular emphasis on regulated sectors in developing and transition economies. The objective was to compile a compendium of successful case studies and to discern common patterns or strategies. These case studies and accompanying analyses are presented in this report. Read more

Latvia – improvements of the Competition Law. In 2004 the Working Group for preparation amendments to the Competition Law made some amendments to the Latvian Law in the field. It was necessary to approximate this law to the Law on Structure of State Administration and the Law on Administrative Proceedings and to provide special procedural order, how to apply material regulations of the Competition Law. At the same time it was decided to correct these disadvantages of the Competition Law, which were discovered during application of the new law, to widen investigation powers of the Competition Council and include in Law legal regulations, which could ensure effective application of the EU competition legislation in Latvia. Read more

The Competition Council of Latvia issued the 2004 Competition Report.  During last year there were 107 cases examined by the Council on possible violations of Competition Law and Advertising Law, 8 of them were self initiated cases, 90 decisions were adopted totally, that is more than in previous years. The increased number of investigations in the field of competition supervision and increased number of market surveys testify about more active competition in different markets of goods and services, and among them also in monopolistic markets previously closed for competition. Competition Council keeps track of situation in different markets and can initiate a case if such facts appear or there is a sound cause to consider that such facts about violation should exist. Read more

Cartel Agreement in Information Technology Market discovered and sanctioned by the Lithuanian Competition Council. The Competition Council was informed that few companies, exercising economic activity on information technology market could made forbidden agreement. There were noticed strong similarities between bids of three companies - “Blue Bridge”, “Techna Orbis” and “Aideta”. Investigation showed that employees in charge of bids in all three companies exchanged information on bid prices as it was agreed between directors of these three companies. Necessary evidences in order to prove cartel agreement were found: evidence on cooperation between competitors in calculation of bids; evidence on cooperation between competitors in calculation of budget breakdown; evidence on cooperation between competitors in preparation of Tender guarantees. Companies “Blue Bridge”, “Techna Orbis” and “Aideta” made horizontal cartel agreement and thus infringed items 1 and 6 of par. 1 of Art. 5 of the Law on Competition of Lithuania and the CC imposed fines in accordance with the Law. Read more

The Hungarian Competition Authority and the National Communications Authority from Hungary made a Cooperation Agreement based on the mutually beneficial assessment of the experiences of the former cooperation and the obligation for cooperation imposed in Act C of 2003 on Electronic Communications. The close cooperation will increase the efficiency of the fulfillment of the tasks of both authorities defined in rules of law and of the implementation of their measures, by creating a framework in which will mutually help one another to ensure efficient fulfillment of their tasks, especially in the field of  protection of competition on the electronic communication market and to enhance unified application of the law.  Read more

The Competition Council of the Hungarian Competition Authority discovered a cartel case with the cooperation of the members of the cartel. It established that the undertakings of the Finnish group Kemira and those of the Belgian group Tessanderlo have participated in a market sharing and price fixing agreement concerning Hungary. The cartel agreement concerned the production and distribution of fodder phosphate, which is mainly used by producers of fodder for animals and by large meat producers, both of which produce fodder themselves. The CC has applied its leniency policy aiding to discover cartels: therefore, Kemira, member of the cartel, which has reported the agreement to the GVH was released from paying a fine, whereas Tessanderlo, reporting second, was obliged to pay a fine of 131 million HUF (1 EUR = ca. 248 HUF). Read more