THE COMPETITION COUNCIL WILL MAKE THE ALLEGED INFRINGEMENT PUBLIC AFTER COMPLETING ITS INVESTIGATION

The Competition Council, taking into account the practices of the European Commission and other countries, will from now on publish on its website the information that it has completed the investigation and sent a Statement of Objections to the subjects that may have infringed the competition law, as well as other interested parties.

Such a statement is sent after the completion of the investigation to inform the parties about the process, documents and conclusions of the investigation carried out by the Authority's officials, which have been previously approved by the Competition Council, and to give the representatives of the suspected undertaking or public entity the opportunity to comment on the findings of the investigation.

The parties, after having familiarised themselves with the material collected and the assessment carried out, have the right to submit their arguments in writing to the Council and to present their position orally at the hearing before the Competition Council adopts a final decision on the alleged infringement.

It is important to note that the Statement of Objections is not the final decision of the Competition Council and in no way restricts its right to draw different conclusions regarding the alleged violation of competition law than those proposed in the statement.

The entire text of the statement will be sent to the subjects under investigation and interested parties only, while a brief description of the suspected violation and the names of the entities suspected of violating legal requirements will be publicly disclosed.

The decision to publish information about the statement sent to the entities regarding potential violations was made in order to enhance the transparency and public awareness of the Competition Council's conducted investigations. This decision is guided by the best practices of the European Commission and other competition authorities in different countries. Until now, only the final decisions of the Competition Council regarding identified infringements have been made public.