Annual Activity Report, 2018
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Annual Activity Report, 2018 OECD-GVH Regional Centre for Competition in Budapest (Hungary) Gazdasági Versenyhivatal Contact: Andrea Dalmay OECD-GVH Regional Centre for Competition in Budapest (Hungary) Gazdasági Versenyhivatal (GVH) Hungarian Competition Authority H-1391 Budapest 62, POBox 211 Hungary Phone: (+36-1) 472-8880 Fax: (+36-1) 472-8898 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.oecdgvh.org illustration: Starline - Freepik.com I. Introduction and organisational setup The OECD-GVH Regional Centre for Competition in the CIS countries, namely Albania, Armenia, Azer- Budapest (Hungary) (“RCC”) was established by the baijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Gazdasági Versenyhivatal (GVH, Hungarian Compe- Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo*, Kyrgyzstan, tition Authority) and the Organisation for Econom- North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, ic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on 16 Feb- the Russian Federation, Serbia and Ukraine. The ruary 2005 when a Memorandum of Understanding work targeting these economies is regarded as the was signed by the parties. core activity of the RCC. These economies have all progressed with the development of their competi- The main objective of the RCC is to foster the devel- tion laws and policies, but are at different stages in opment of competition policy, competition law and this process. As a consequence, the needs for capac- competition culture in the South-East, East and Cen- ity building differ among the involved non-OECD tral European regions and to thereby contribute to member economies and this necessitates a broad ap- economic growth and prosperity in the involved re- proach to competition outreach work. Major capacity gions. building needs in these regions include (a) enhanc- ing analytical skills in competition law enforcement, The RCC provides capacity building assistance and (b) raising the awareness of the judiciary regarding policy advice through workshops, seminars and the specific characteristics of competition law ad- training programmes on competition law and policy judication, (c) pro-competitive reform in infrastruc- for officials in competition enforcement agencies and ture sectors, (d) competition advocacy, (e) relations other parts of government, sector regulators, and between competition authorities and sector regula- judges. The RCC also works to strengthen competi- tory agencies, (f) legal and institutional reform in the tion law and policy in Hungary and in the GVH itself. area of competition, and (g) building international co-operation and networking. The RCC’s work focuses on four main target groups. The first group of beneficiaries are the competition * All references to Kosovo, whether the territory, institutions or authorities of South-East Europe and the majority of population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nation’s Security Council Resolution 1244 and wit- hout prejudice to the status of Kosovo. 4 Judges represent the second target group of the and they may also on occasion deal with the same RCC’s activities. The seminars for judges provide parties (the same companies within the region). judges with an opportunity to improve their un - derstanding of competition law and economics, to The fourth beneficiary of the RCC’s work is the GVH exchange views on the latest developments in EU itself. The agendas of the RCC workshops that are or- competition law, and to discuss the key challenges ganised for the staff of the GVH are related to ongo- arising in competition law cases. ing projects or “hot” topics and provide an excellent opportunity for staff to learn about state-of-the-art The third group of beneficiaries of the work of the antitrust theory and enforcement practices. RCC are the competition authorities which belong to the Central European Competition Initiative (CECI). Concerning the functioning of the RCC, the Memo- This Initiative aims to provide a forum for co-oper- randum of Understanding of the RCC provides that ation on competition matters and was established the GVH and the OECD are to make major decisions by the Central European competition authorities in on their activities and work jointly. For this purpose, 2003. It is a network of agencies and operates via the parties meet on an annual basis to review the op- workshops and informal meetings. Involved are the eration and performance of the RCC and to prepare competition authorities of Austria, the Czech Repub- the annual work plan. lic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary. These countries all belong to the same geographic region, Regarding the financing of the RCC, the GVH is re- share fundamentally similar cultural traditions and sponsible for providing most of the necessary fund- historical experiences and are, more or less, at the ing for the functioning of the RCC, including an an- same stage of development. As a result, their com- nual voluntary contribution to the OECD for the costs petition authorities face several common challeng- associated with the staff position in Paris. The OECD es and difficulties. Moreover, from time to time these helps to co-finance the RCC’s operation and activi- authorities deal with markets which are regional, ties. In addition to this, both the GVH and the OECD overlapping or which are connected to each other, co-operate in efforts to raise additional financial support for the RCC from third parties. 5 II. Overview of the activities for the year 2018 The RCC organised seven events in 2018. Seminars fo- lar seminars, the RCC continued with its special ini- cused on some important core competences of com- tiatives: a seminar organised in one of the beneficia- petition authorities as well as on best practices in ry economies, and a seminar organised jointly with the area of competition law. In addition to its regu- the FAS Russia Table №1 Speakers Country or institution Number Person-days Total number Albania 3 9 of speakers Austria 2 5 per country or Belgium 3 6 institution EU Commission 3 8 Germany 3 9 Italy 1 3 Lithuania 2 6 Luxembourg 2 4 The Netherlands 1 3 Portugal 1 2 Russian Federation 5 15 Turkey 1 3 United Kingdom 5 13 United States 3 10 GVH 4 12 OECD 8 21 Aggregate 47 129 6 Altogether, over the course of the year, the RCC in- Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, vited 262 participants and 47 speakers to its events. Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Spain, Swe- Through the RCC’s core events it delivered 788 per- den, Tajikistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbeki- son-days of capacity building.* All in all, participants stan and the GVH. Meanwhile, experts from 16 coun- from 36 economies and institutions attended the tries and institutions attended as panel members: RCC’s programmes, coming from Albania, Armenia, Albania, Austria, Belgium, EU Commission, Germa- Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovi- ny, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, na, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Geor- Portugal, Russian Federation, Turkey, United King- gia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Kazakh- dom, United States, the GVH and the OECD. stan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, North Participating countries Russian Federation Belarus Ukraine Kazakhstan Hungary Romania Serbia Croatia Moldova Georgia Bosnia and Kosovo Herzegovina Bulgaria FYR of Macedonia Azerbaijan Albania Kyrgyzstan Armenia Montenegro * Person-days are defined as the number of days a person attend- ed a RCC seminar. Thus, if 10 people attended a course for 5 days and 4 people attended a course for 3 days the number of person days delivered is 62 (10*5 + 4*3 = 62). 7 III. Detailed review of the activities in the year 2018 Table No2 provides a brief overview of the topics of the seminars held in 2018 as well as the participating economies and institutions. 8 Table №2 Event Topic Date Total Attending Number of Economies/Institutions Participants and Speakers Summary of activities Seminar on European Participants: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, in 2018 Competition Law for Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, National Judges 23-24 United Kingdom 21 + 5 on “National Judges February and Antitrust Speakers: Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, United Damages Litigation” Kingdom, OECD Participants: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo*, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Seminar on Cartel Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russian Federation, 06-08 March 41 + 6 Detection Tools” Serbia, Ukraine, GVH Speakers: Germany, Lithuania, United Kingdom GVH, OECD Participants: GVH 17-18 GVH Staff Training 74 + 6 April Speakers: Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, OECD Introductory Participants: Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Level Seminar - Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo*, Kyrgyzstan, Basic Concepts 15-18 North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, and Procedures in 41 + 6 Russian Federation, Serbia, Ukraine, GVH Competition Law May for Young Authority Speakers: EU Commission, Germany, GVH, United Staff States, OECD Participants: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Outside Seminar Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo*, in Albania – 19-21 Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russian 35 + 7 Federation, Serbia, Ukraine Merger Control June Investigations Speakers: Albania, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Turkey, OECD Participants: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, RCC – FAS Seminar in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russian 02-04 Federation, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan Russia on Effective 24 + 10 October