Competition law

In accordance with the amended Law of 30 November 2022 on competition, the Authority investigates and sanctions the following anti-competitive practices:

• prohibited agreements between undertakings (Articles 4 of the Law and Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – TFEU); and
• abuse of a dominant position (Articles 5 of the Law and 102 of the TFEU).

It can take action against these practices following a complaint or on its own initiative.

In order to investigate and sanction anti-competitive practices, the Authority has investigative, decision-making and sanctioning powers.

Analysis missions: investigations by sector or by type of agreement

The Authority may, on its own initiative or at the request of the Minister of the Economy, conduct investigations into a particular sector of the economy or a particular type of agreement across various sectors.

The College of the Authority decides whether to open investigations, which enables the Authority, among other things, to:

• send requests for information to the undertakings or associations of undertakings concerned; and
• order all necessary investigative measures to uncover and sanction any prohibited agreements between undertakings or abuses of a dominant position.

Upon completion of the investigation, the College decides whether to close the inquiry and to draw up a report detailing the findings.

The Authority may then publish this report and invite interested parties to share their observations. At the request of the interested parties, it may decide to aggregate and anonymise the findings prior to publication.

Advisory missions: issuing opinions and consultations

The Authority issues opinions on any matter concerning competition law and the competitive functioning of markets.

The opinion of the Authority must be sought, in particular, for any legislative or regulatory proposal:

• amending or enforcing competition law;
• transposing or implementing a supranational instrument relating to competition matters; or
• introducing a new regime resulting in quantitative restrictions on the exercise of a profession or access to a market, the establishment of exclusive rights in certain areas or the enforcement of uniform practices regarding to prices or terms of sale.

The Authority must be consulted on any legal action brought by or against the State, as well as when the State intervenes in proceedings before the courts of the European Union or the European Court of Human Rights relating to competition law.

Advocacy

Alongside the enforcement tools at its disposal, the Authority also carries out awareness-raising and educational activities ('competition advocacy') aimed at drawing the attention of stakeholders to the benefits and requirements of competition law.

With regard to undertakings, the aim is to encourage reflection so that they regularly review their own conduct against the requirements of competition law, and, where necessary, implement compliance programmes.

In accordance with the amended Law of 30 November 2022 on competition, the Authority may also, since 1 January 2023, publish concise information on its ongoing work (for example, on a statement of objections in a particular sector), whilst ensuring that the presumption of innocence of the undertakings or associations of undertakings concerned is respected.

In accordance with the Law of 29 March 2023 […] implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2560 on foreign subsidies distorting the internal market, the Authority may be called upon to assist the European Commission in the scrutiny of foreign (non-EU) subsidies granted to undertakings operating in the EU which could distort competition in the EU internal market.

This monitoring applies to concentrations (mergers and acquisitions), public procurement procedures and all other market situations.

Undertakings must notify the Commission of:

• concentrations involving financial contributions granted by public authorities of a non-EU country where:
  • the acquired undertaking, one of the parties to the merger or the joint venture generates a turnover in the EU of at least EUR 500 million; and
  • the foreign financial contribution involved exceeds EUR 50 million;   
• any participation in public procurement procedures where:
  • the estimated value of the contract is at least EUR 250 million; and
  • the foreign financial contribution involved is at least EUR 4 million per non-EU country.

For all other market situations, the Commission may initiate investigations on its own initiative (ex-officio) if it suspects the existence of distortive foreign subsidies.

In the context of subsidised mergers, if the Commission finds that the negative effects in terms of distortion outweigh the positive effects on the development of economic activity, it may impose structural or non-structural remedial measures on undertakings, or accept them as commitments, in order to remedy the distortion.

In the context of public procurement, if foreign subsidies distort competition, the Commission may prohibit the award of contracts to undertakings benefiting from them.