COMPETITION COUNCIL ANNOUNCES CONSUMER BENEFITS OF ITS 2010 – 2012 ACTIVITIES

In accordance with international best practice, the Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania (Konkurencijos taryba, KT) has, for the second time since 2011, carried out an impact assessment of its activities on consumers. The published results demonstrate that the benefits provided to consumers as a result of the KT activities are more than 12 times higher than the annual budget of the agency.

The mission of the KT is to safeguard effective competition for the benefit of consumers. In implementing the mission concerned, the KT aims at creating direct financial benefits to consumers.

As in previous years, the evaluation of the impact of the KT activities was conducted in accordance with the methodologies established by the world’s top competition authorities and the most recent academic literature. The basis for the assessment was the methodology used by the Office of Fair Trading of the United Kingdom.

In continuation to the original 2011 initiative to introduce the society with the benefits of the KT work, the objective of the impact assessment remains twofold. Firstly, this exercise is a means of external accountability, which enables the society to assess the activities of the KT. Secondly, having set its work priority and the prioritization principles in 2012, the KT employs the benefit calculation methodology when deciding on whether to open an investigation, in order to bring the highest benefits to consumers.

The impact assessment covers both direct and indirect benefits to consumers created by the KT during the period between 2010 and 2012. Although the assessment has been based on conservative assumptions and rules, the findings have shown the total consumer benefits resulting from the KT’s work to constitute from LTL 45,72 million to LTL 268,37 million depending on whether only direct financial benefits to consumers are assessed or whether imposed fines and the benefits resulting from the deterrent effect of the KT activities are also considered. The comparison of these figures with the 2010-2012 KT budget of LTL 10,9 million (on average LTL 3,6 million per year) shows that the direct benefits provided to consumers exceed the KT’s annual budget by more than 12 times.

The impact assessment of the KT’s work is published here (297.6 KB ).

Communication Division