The Competition Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina held its 7th session on April 24 2024 in Sarajevo. The session was preceded by a working meeting.
Materials from the field of competition law and policy, as well as the internal work and functioning of the Competition Council, were discussed at the session.
In the procedure conducted at the Claim of the undertaking “Telemach BH” d.o.o. Sarajevo against undertakings “Telekomunikacija Republika Srpska” a.d. Banja Luka, “BH Telecom” a.d. Sarajevo and “Arena Channels Group” d.o.o. Belgrade, Serbia, a Decision was made rejecting the Claim to establish the existence of a prohibited agreement under Article 4, paragraph 1, point b), c) and e) of the Law on Competition, as unfounded.
By the same Decision, part of the Claim of “Telemach” against “Arena Channels Group” for determining the abuse of a dominant position from Article 10, paragraph 2, point b), c) and d) of the Law was also rejected as unfounded.
A decision was adopted that allowed concentration on the market of investment fund management in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will be created by the acquisition of individual control of the undertaking “NLB Skladi” d.o.o. Ljubljana, Slovenia, over the undertaking “Generali Investments” AD Skopje, North Macedonia.
During the evaluation of the concentration, the Competition Council determined that the concentration in question cannot cause limitation, prevention or distortion of competition on the relevant market of investment fund management in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after which it was allowed.
The Concentration Notification was rejected according to the Request of “Delta Real Estate” d.o.o. Belgrade, Serbia, which refers to the acquisition of control over the bankrupt entity “GP RAD” Belgrade, Serbia, due to the absence of the obligation to notify the concentration in the sense of Article 14, paragraph (1) of the Law on Competition.
Due to the lack of concentration, in the sense of Article 12, paragraph (1) of the Law on Competition, the Notification of concentration of the natural person Saif Jaffar Suhail Markhan Alketbi, United Arab Emirates, Dubai, was rejected.
Proceedings were initiated at the request of the undertaking “Telemach BH” against the undertakings “VIP Team”, “HAYAT”, “OBN”, “RTV BN”, “O Kanal”, “Retro Media” and “DENI Company”, in order to determine the existence abuse of a dominant position from Article 10, paragraph 2, points c) and d) of the Law.
Ex officio proceedings were initiated against the City of Banja Luka in order to establish the existence of a prohibited agreement within the meaning of Article 4, paragraph (1) point e) of the Law on Competition, as well as against the undertaking “Eko Toplana” Banja Luka in order to establish the existence of an abuse of a dominant position, in terms of Article 10, paragraph (2) point d) of the Law on Competition.
Officially, proceedings were also initiated against the undertaking “JP Grijanje” d.o.o. Kakanj, in order to determine the existence of abuse of a dominant position in the sense of Article 10, paragraph (2) point d) of the Law.
Also, the ex officio procedure was initiated for the purpose of evaluating the concentration of the undertaking “Bingo” d.d. Tuzla.
Opinion on the request of the undertaking “Frikom” d.o.o. There is a need for the possibility of initiating a procedure due to the lack of competitiveness related to the individual service “disposal of waste from residential and commercial premises” on the market for the provision of communal services.
Bearing in mind the Request, the Competition Council stated that the opinion cannot give an assessment of the possible existence of prohibited competitive activities or assess the legality of certain behaviour of economic entities. This can only be determined in the proceedings conducted before the Competition Council.
As part of the remaining items on the session’s agenda, the Proposal for a Decision on the adoption of a temporary public procurement plan for April-June 2024 was adopted, as well as the Proposal for a Decision on the appointment of the President of the Competition Council.
Also, working groups were appointed to prepare the draft of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Competition, as well as to draft and propose the Work Program of the Competition Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the year 2025.