In Antitrust Writing Awards 2017 the Competition Council’s guidebook “Cooperation with public institutions: how to reduce the risks of competition law infringement?” (Guidebook) received an award for the most innovative soft law in the cross-border category. The Guidebook was assessed by 50 international antitrust experts.

On December 22 the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (hereinafter – SACL) upheld the Competition Council‘s (hereinafter – Council) decision of 2014 whereby Gazprom   received a fine of more than EUR 35 million – Gazprom created obstacles for AB Lietuvos energijos gamyba to purchase natural gas from other supplier.

Seimas adopted amendments to the Law on Competition and the Law on Local Self-Government initiated by the President of the Republic of Lithuania. From 1 January 2017 public administrative bodies will face fines for competition law breaches and stricter regulation related to economic activities carried out by municipal companies.

On 29 August Vilnius Regional Administrative Court (hereinafter – Court) rejected the appeal by Panevėžys City Municipality (hereinafter – Municipality) against the Competition Council‘s decision of 16 July 2016 whereby the Municipality restricted competition and consumer rights in the municipal waste management sector.