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Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic Annual Report 2001
4
In the area of concentrations the new act specified the definition of concentration and completed the
definitions regarding joint ventures, joint control and part of an undertaking, which were missed in the
Act No. 188/1994 Coll. and it made the provisions of the act regarding concentrations more explicit and
more comprehensible.
Simultaneously, the thresholds of turnover of parties to concentration or their market share, below
which such a concentration is not subject to control by the Office have been increased.
The purpose of this increase is to allow the Office to assess only concentrations with a substantial
impact on the competition within the corresponding relevant markets. Act No. 188/1994 Coll. did not
adjust the definition of turnover of undertaking, but the assignment of the amount of undertaking’s
turnover is one of the criteria on the basis of which an undertaking notifies a concentration to the
Office. New act abolished the mentioned imperfection, introduced a definition of turnover and even the
Office issued a notice, which sets out details on calculation of turnover.
Second notice issued by the Office also regards concentrations and it specifies conditions, which
should the notification of concentration contain. Aim of this notice is to help undertakings to submit
complete information on concentration to the Office, what could result in faster Office’s proceedings in
the matter.
Similarly as with agreements restricting competition, the new act allows undertakings to request the
Office to issue its standpoint on the intention of a concentration and thus early enough consult various
problems, which could possibly arise in the relation to the concentration.
In compliance with the acquis communautaire, the new act introduced a ban for parties to a
concentration to exercise the rights and fulfil obligations resulting from the arisen concentration until a
valid concentration-related decision has come into force – so called “concentration suspension”.
At the same time, however, the undertaking may request the Office to grant an exemption from the
said ban, if serious reasons for that exist.
The new act has modified powers of the Office in assessment of concentrations, giving it greater
means for protection of competitive surroundings. Comparing the previous, there is a change that the
Office will ban any concentration that creates or strengthens a dominant position, which may result in
major barriers to effective competition in the relevant market.
Assessment of a concentration creating or strengthening a dominant position in the market where the
detriment to the competition is viewed against the overall benefits to the economy has been omitted.
In concentration assessment the Office can also decide on imposing an obligation to pursue a remedy,
including the division of the undertaking of the parties to the concentration.
Strengthening of the Office’s independence
One of the objectives of the new Act on Protection of Competition was to strengthen Office’s
independence and decision-making objectiveness by changing the way of creating the position of the
Chairman of the Office who is appointed, on the basis of a proposal submitted by the Government, by
the President of the SR for 5-years term of office. The act allows the same person to be appointed for
only two consecutive office terms with the taxative reasoning of his/her recalling and establishes a new
body – the Council of the Office.
The Council is a collective body of the Office deciding on the appeal, prosecutor's protest, it reviews
decisions apart from the appeal proceedings and it also decides on renewal of proceedings.
The Council is composed of seven members – Chairman of the Office, Deputy Chairman and
experienced experts with legal or economy background who work with the Office as externs.
Prepared changes in legislation
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