Lessons from competition law enforcement in Central and Eastern Europe

• Department of Law

The Competition Law Working Group hosts a session with Jasminka Pecotić Kaufman (University of Zagreb) and Maciej Bernatt (University of Warsaw).

Abstract:

Thirty years of modern competition law systems in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) invite reflection on the lessons the region can offer to the world. Our study addresses collusion between competitors facilitated by trade associations. It focuses on five CEE jurisdictions (the Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia) and looks at the 2010-2020 period. Our systematic analysis of relevant national decisions shows that trade association-facilitated collusion between competitors is persistent and widespread in selected CEE economies. Many cases relate to professional associations, which often assume the market's disciplining role vis-à-vis their members and sometimes use codes of ethics to label competitive behaviour as unethical. The national competition authorities in CEE have addressed collusion involving trade associations with varying degrees of enforcement intensity and using different procedural mechanisms. Low-level awareness of the illegality of anticompetitive conduct by associations raises doubts about the effectiveness of competition enforcement in the region. The implications for the decentralised implementation of EU competition law and for ensuring an EU level playing field are significant. We suggest a range of remedies to address the apparent lack of competition culture in the context of trade associations in CEE countries.

The Competition Law Working Group is a forum where EUI members, external researchers, and practitioners working on antitrust law and economics discuss their work and interact with other scholars. All interested fellows, PhD researchers, professors and visiting academics are invited to participate.