The Competition Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina held its 2nd session on 8 February 2023 in Sarajevo. The session was preceded by a working meeting.

Materials from the field of competition law were discussed and decided on at the session as well as the internal work and functioning of the Competition Council.

A Decision has been made that allows the individual exemption of agreements from the prohibition of Trademark License Agreements, in the sense of Article 4, paragraph (3) and Article 5 of the Law on Competition. The Agreement was concluded on 30 January 2023 between the undertakings “Philip Morris Products S.A.” Neuchatel, Switzerland and “KT&G Corporation” Seoul, Republic of Korea, and the exemption is established for a period of 5 (five) years and begins to run from the date of conclusion of the Agreement.

Also, the Decision allows the individual exemption of agreements from the prohibition of Agreements on Framework Commercialization and Technology License, in the sense of Articles 4 and 5 of the Law on Competition. This Agreement was also concluded on January 30 2023 between the undertakings “Philip Morris Product” S.A. Neuchatel, Switzerland and “KT&G Corporation” Daejeon, Republic of Korea, and the exemption is established for a period of 5 (five) years from the date of conclusion of the Agreement.

The Conclusion was adopted rejecting the Notification of the intention of concentration of the undertaking “Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft” Cologne, Germany, due to the absence of the obligation to submit the notification, in the sense of Article 14, paragraph (1) of the Law on Competition. The concentration refers to the purchase of shares with additional management rights in the undertaking “Italia Transporto Aero” S.p.a. Italy.

The conclusion also rejected the Notification for the concentration of the undertaking “PC Energy Engineering” d.o.o. Nevesinje, due to the absence of the obligation to report the concentration in the sense of Article 14, paragraph (1) of the Law on Competition. The concentration refers to the establishment of the company “PC-ERS” d.o.o. for the production and sale of electricity Trebinje.

A Conclusion was made on the correction of the error in the Decision of the Competition Council number: UP-02-26-1-024-12/23 of 20.12.2023, by which the Company for the exploitation of mineral water and production of beverages “Knjaz Miloš” a.d. Arandjelovac, Serbia was permitted concentration on the market of production, distribution and wholesale of carbonated soft drinks in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The procedure was initiated on the Claim for individual exemption of the agreement from the ban of the claimants, undertakings “PepsiCo, Inc.” New York, USA and “Knjaz Miloš” A.D. Arandjelovac, Serbia. It is about the exemption of the Agreement on the appointment of the holder of the exclusive right to filling with all accessories, concluded between the mentioned companies.
The second Agreeemnt that is the subject of the Claim for Exemption relates to the appointment of the holder of the exclusive bottling rights regarding the distribution of beverages sold under the 7UP brand, and was concluded between Portfolio Concentrate Solutions UC Dublin, Ireland and Knjaz Miloš.

An Opinion on the Request of the undertaking “Unis Energetika” d.o.o. Sarajevo was also adopted. In the same, it is stated that the Request to review the Decision of the Competition Council number: 05-26-2-037-49-II/14, dated 22 December 2015, cannot be considered when making an opinion, in the sense of Article 25, paragraph (1) under f) and (2) of the Law on Competition. The Decision in question was also confirmed by the Judgment of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In relation to the part of the Request asking whether the Law on Communal Activities of SBK can contain a provision that users who want to disconnect from the district heating system are obliged to pay the corresponding fixed part, it was answered that the condition for the other party to accept additional obligations that by their nature have nothing to do with the subject of the agreement, and restricting the market to the detriment of consumers represents prohibited competitive actio. The submitter of the Request for an opinion is obliged to submit the same to the Competition Council for an opinion if they propose changes to the act regulating the subject area.

The remaining items on the agenda of the session related to the adoption of the internal acts of the Competition Council, namely the Report on the work of the Competition Council, and the Report on the list of fixed assets, as wel as the Report on the implemented internal control procedure.
The Report on the Implementation of the Operational Action Plan for the Development of the Financial Management and Control System (FUK), as well as the Report on the Implementation of the Integrity Plan of the BiH Competition Council, were also adopted.

Competition Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina