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Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic Annual Report 2001
11
improvement of the position of the undertaking in the market, increase of efficiency of their activity,
entry to the new markets or they consider this step to be an advantageous investment. This transaction
is not unlawful indeed, furthermore it brings indisputable advantages to the participants to the
concentration and in the most cases to the consumers as well. But the concentration brings the change
of the market structure – the reduction of number of players in the market, what should in some cases
result in the creation of strong player and in the consequential significant reduction competition and in
the possible restriction of the competition in certain market.
Therefore the Office realises certain preventive measures to prevent such a situation, it means it
monitors and controls concentrations.
The Office assesses each concentration individually in a given economic and legal context. The Office
assesses mainly the impact of concentration on the relevant market and when the concentration would
create significant barriers of effective competition in the market, the Office can prohibit the
concentration or approve it with conditions, which should eliminate anticompetitive impacts of
concentration.
In 2001 the Office decided on 87 concentrations. Most of the assessed concentrations, as much as 68
%, were horizontal concentrations, 18 % were conglomerate concentrations and at least 14 % were
vertical concentrations. In most of the assessed concentrations there was a foreign undertaking
involved as a party to the concentration.
As much as 46 % of assessed concentrations were concentrations of foreign undertakings, i.e.
concentrations of foreign origin which, however, had had some impact on the market in the Slovak
Republic and therefore were notified to the Office. They were mostly the concentrations of strong
multinational undertakings, especially from mechanical engineering, electrotechnical engineering and
chemical industry.
Approximately 40 % of assessed concentrations were transactions of foreign investors entering Slovak
undertakings.
These concentrations had taken place especially in the dairy industry and in services and banking
sectors. The least number of assessed concentrations were the concentrations between Slovak
undertakings.
There were only 14 % of such concentrations and most of them emerged in the area of publishing and
distribution of press.
As none of the concentrations assessed by the Office constituted a risk of creating any substantial
effective obstacles to competition, the Office approved all assessed concentrations without conditions.
A new Act on Protection of Competition introduced in the area of concentrations a new institute, not
used previously, namely issuing a standpoint to the intention of concentration. Undertakings have been
interested in the possibility to assess concentration prior its introducing and the Office has issued 16
standpoints to the intention of concentration in the time of 8 months of the efficiency of the Act.
Assessing concentration the Office imposed fines in the amount of 325 000 Sk (7831 EUR). These
fines have been imposed mainly for non-notification of concentrations in the period stipulated by the
act and for non-submitting materials necessary to assess concentration.
Concentrations in a banking area ( Slovenská sporite
a – Erste bank, VÚB – IntesaBci)
In year 2001 the Office has been assessing two important concentrations in the banking area – entry of
foreign investors to the two biggest banks in the Slovak Republic, namely the entry of Austrian Erste
bank to Slovenská sporite
a and Italian IntesaBci to Všeobecná úverová banka.
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