THE THIRD BALTIC COUNTRIES COMPETITION CONFERENCE

The Third Baltic Countries Competition Conference was held in Vilnius on September 13-14. Representatives of the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Competition authorities, also the conference participants from Finland and Poland discussed the situation in the Baltic market in relation to concentration control, and the peculiarities of the application of Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty establishing the European Communities. On the second day the participants of the conference were invited to the working groups for presentations and discussions on the concentration control in the telecommunications sector, competition in the banking sector, and, among others, issues related to strengthening of inter-institutional cooperation.

The conference started with the opening speech of Rimantas Stanikūnas, Chairman of the Lithuanian Competition Council and Páll Gunnar Pálsson, Director General of the Icelandic Competition Authority.

The Baltic States competition conference held for the third year in turn has become part of the tradition and a forum for the officials from the competition authorities of the Baltic States to share the accumulated experience, discuss the competition issues in individual sectors of economy and assess the practice of the application of the relevant Articles of the Treaty establishing the European Communities and the regulations of the European Commission.