29.09.2020.
Only several days after the initiation of the infringement proceeding against Roming Electronics, Tehnomania and Comtrade Distribution, the Commission for Protection of Competition (the Commission) announced that it had initiated another ex-officio infringement proceeding against consumer electronics retailers SF1 Coffee, which is an importer and distributor of Nespresso and Pandora coffee machines.
Namely, the Commission reasonably assumed, by inspecting the internet sales, that the prices of Nespresso coffee machines on the market of the Republic of Serbia are identical, or almost identical, and that the company SF1 Coffee influenced the prices of products of the brand whose distributor is resold, which represents a restrictive agreement in accordance with Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition.
Pursuant to Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition, restrictive agreements are agreements between market participants that have the goal or consequence of significantly restricting, distorting or preventing competition on the territory of the Republic of Serbia. Furthermore, it is stipulated that restrictive agreements can be contracts, certain provisions of contracts, explicit or tacit agreements, harmonized practices, as well as decisions on the form of association of undertakings, which directly or indirectly determine purchase or sale prices or other trade conditions.
The Commission is to determine and prove the existence of a restrictive agreement in this specific proceeding, i.e. the existence of a contract or agreement between undertakings relating to the fixing of prices and terms of trade.
National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted amendments to the Law on Foreigners and the Law on the Employment of Foreigners, thereby introducing numerous changes. The laws entered into force on August 4, 2023, but their implementation was postponed to February 1, 2024.
From 17 May 2023, submission of application for registration of companies before the Serbian Business Registers’ Agency will be available only in electronic form, via specific user application. Starting from 17 May, electronic application for registration of companies in the SBRA will be mandatory, meaning that paper application will no longer be accepted from this date.
At the beginning of November 2022, the Serbian Competition Authority initiated several ex officio investigations against different market participants.