Amendment to The Czech Competition Act
Like at last year's conference, the draft amendment to the Czech Competition Act was heavily discussed.
The period to harmonise the EU's ECN+ Directive lapsed long ago, but the Czech Competition Act has not yet been updated.
The bill currently being discussed in Parliament is not just a simple harmonisation, but implements other procedural noveltie.
Compliance Programmes
Until recently, the CCA did not take into account whether the investigated company had a competition compliance programme in place.
This has now changed, as shortly before the conference the CCA published guidelines with respect to compliance programmes.
The CCA is willing to consider not only already existing programmes, but also new programmes im.
Dawn Raids on The Rise
Last year, the number of dawn raids conducted by the CCA picked up compared to the Covid-affected 2020.
This trend is likely to continue this year, while the numbers presented at the conference are clearly not final.
CCA personnel hinted that a certain number of dawn raids will still be conducted in December and that there will not be a slowdown in.
Focus on Large Companies
The CCA's representatives repeatedly emphasised that they intend to focus on large companies (in terms of turnover and market share) in all areas of enforcement.
We may therefore expect investigations and formal proceedings in the area of abuse of dominance, which was neglected in recent years.
The CCA's long-standing focus on resale price maintena.
Leniency For Vertical Agreements
The current Czech Competition Act allows for a leniency procedure only in horizontal cartel scenarios.
This will change with the aforementioned bill, which will remove the requirement for the agreement in question to have a horizontal character.
Nevertheless, the CCA has already begun to accept quasi-leniency applications even in cases of vertical .
What is European competition law?
European competition law prohibits agreements and concerted practices between undertakings, that (i) may affect trade between Member States and (ii) have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the internal market, unless they meet the conditions for an exemption.
Will the Czech Competition Act be updated?
Like at last year's conference, the draft amendment to the Czech Competition Act was heavily discussed.
The period to harmonise the EU's ECN+ Directive lapsed long ago, but the Czech Competition Act has not yet been updated.
