EXPERTS OF KONKURENCIJOS TARYBA SHARED EXPERIENCE WITH COLLEAGUES FROM UKRAINE

On 16–20 January employees of the Anti-monopoly Committee of Ukraine took part in a study visit in Lithuania during which they participated in meetings with experts from the competition authority Konkurencijos taryba, Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, as well as from the Communications Regulatory Authority, and learned about the working practices of these organisations.

During an opening speech Šarūnas Keserauskas, the Chairman of Konkurencijos taryba, said he would never stop being amazed about the fact that the Ukrainian authority is still doing its work despite the Russian war against the country and continues learning from the experience of other EU countries, which will be later used to improve the legal system of Ukraine.

“We know what kind of walk you can walk as a country, as fighters, as employees of the Anti-monopoly Committee of Ukraine, it’s now our turn to show our walk in Lithuania, in the EU, in the world in general”, said Š. Keserauskas.

The delegation learned about the activities and structure of Konkurencijos taryba, heard about the methodology which the authority uses to calculate the benefits of its activities to consumers. Jurgita Klusevičiūtė, Adviser of the Competition Policy Group, also presented the authority‘s guarantees of independence which enable it to enforce antitrust rules in a fully impartial manner, adopt decisions regardless of political and other external influence, to decide on the areas of investigation in order to contribute significantly to an effective protection of competition for businesses and consumers.

While presenting merger control activities, Lorena Nomeikaitė, an expert of the Mergers Supervision Group, explained in what cases companies are required to notify a merger in Lithuania, what information must be provided to Konkurencijos taryba and what sanctions companies may expect if they fail to provide correct and complete information necessary for a merger review process.

Irma Urmonaitė, Deputy Chairwoman, who focused on the topic of interinstitutional cooperation highlighted that exchanging information with other authorities, which also seek more efficient public procurement, not only allows to obtain evidence necessary to open an investigation and detect infringements of the Law on Competition easier, but it also provides useful information about the market where a suspected infringement might take place. In addition, sharing information and evidence between authorities allows to conduct investigations in a faster and more efficient way.

On the second day of the visit Eglė Malonytė, Adviser of the Competition Policy Group, shared the experience of Konkurencijos taryba concerning dawn raids, which the authority‘s officials conduct after opening an investigation into an infringement of the Law on Competition. Jonas Mikalauskas and Paulius Bartkus, experts of the Anti-competitive Agreements Investigation Group, presented how Konkurencijos taryba receives information on alleged anti-competitive agreements and in what cases infringers can expect immunity from fines or their reduction.

The guests were also interested in the supervision of public entities, investigations into abuse of dominance, the Lithuanian fining rules and legal protection in courts.  

During the meeting held in Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, the Ukrainian delegation learned about the peculiarities of examining competition law cases in courts, which were introduced by judges during their presentation on the Lithuanian judicial system and procedures. During the visit organised in the Communications Regulatory Authority, the employees of the Ukrainian Anti-monopoly Committee found out how competition is ensured in the electronic communications and postal sectors, what regulatory challenges arise in supervising the railway sector and what significant decisions have been adopted by the Lithuanian institution.

The study visit took place according to the EU Twinning project implemented by Konkurencijos taryba, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy together with the Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt), as well as by the Romanian Competition Council, which aims to seek further approximation of the Ukrainian competition law and procedures with the EU competition rules, and share the most relevant practice relating to antitrust enforcement, merger control and competition advocacy.

The Twinning project, the budget of which is EUR 1.2 million, is funded by the European Union. The Lithuanian Central Project Management Agency is the administrative manager of the project.