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Romanian Competition Council

Romanian Competition Council. Role of Competition Advocacy in Competition Council’s Activity Bogdan M. Chiritoiu President October 10, 2011. Different types of advocacy used by RCC. Legislative guidance Guidelines for business Promotion of competition culture to the general public

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Romanian Competition Council

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  1. Romanian Competition Council Role of Competition Advocacy in Competition Council’s Activity Bogdan M. Chiritoiu President October 10, 2011

  2. Different types of advocacy used by RCC • Legislative guidance • Guidelines for business • Promotion of competition culture to the general public • Sector inquires

  3. Different types of advocacy used by RCC Legislative guidance (1/3) The relationship of RCC with other governmental entities is essential for advocacy. Thus, RCC, according to the Competition Law: • gives advisory opinions on draft normative acts (RCC issued in 2010 and first 6 months of 2011, 15 advisory opinions, 23 points of view, 8 interventions for amendments of normative acts) • issues recommendations addressed to the Government bodies In order to accomplish these attributions, RCC: • participates in preparatory governmental meetings at technical level • takes part in Advisory Committees of regulatory authorities • makes lobby to the Commissions of the Romanian Parliament • participates in meetings of Inter-ministerial Council for the application of State aid policy

  4. Legislative guidance (2/3) • cooperates with regulatory authorities through Protocols of cooperation RCC concluded 30 collaboration protocols with different authorities, including the regulatory agencies that enable it to make ex-officio legislative interventions or at the request of various bodies • makes use of international best practices and especially of OECD recommendations: • Introduction of the “competition filter” • Guidelines on bid rigging (RCC concluded 5 Cooperation protocols with all governmental bodies involved in the public procurement sector) • Introduction of CIBDs (Certificate of Independent Bid Determination) in 2009

  5. Legislative guidance (3/3) • Amendment of the Competition Law Main goal of the amendment: to increase the convergence between the national law with the EC rules. One of the amendments : setting-up a Consultative Body that provides specialized advice on general competition policy aspects. • Credit for Consumers Advocacy in transposing EC Directive 48/2008 on credit agreements for consumers Result: Consumer Protection Authority included our recommendations into the Ordinance.

  6. Guidelines for business Business community – one of the most important target group Goal : to assure coherence in understanding the antitrust rules by the undertakings • Leniency policy September 2009 - new amended version in line with the ECN Leniency Model aiming at: • clearer guidance for businesses; • implementing marker system for immunity A leniency unit within the authority was set up in order to ensure a proper interface between RCC and business environment and a dedicated website (www.clementa.ro) was created. • Commitments In 2010 RCC elaborated and adopted the Guidelines on the conditions, terms and procedure for accepting and assessing the commitments in anticompetitive practices.

  7. Promotion of competition culture to the general public (1/2) Important focus for competition advocacy Addressed to all parts of society – consumers, businesspeople, trade unions, academia, the legal community, government and regulatory officials and judges RCC promotes the competition culture in different forms: • Publications/guidelines • Conferences for launching the annual report of activity and annual report on state of competition in sensitive sectors • Elaboration and publication of reports, brochures, guides

  8. Promotion of competition culture to the general public (2/2) • Website permanently up-dated • Mass media strategy • Annual Projects addressed to judges, academia and local public administration • Conferences, seminars, round tables • Various consultations or lectures • Speeches, official statements, publications, workshops

  9. Sector inquiries In 2009 and 2010, RCC initiated 8 sector inquiries and finalized 5 sector inquires on the following markets: • Maritime transport services • Commercialization of milk between producers and processors • Auto spare parts • Wholesale drug distribution • Electric energy • Construction of roads and motorways • Production, transport, distribution and supply of heating energy in Bucharest • Local persons transport services through regulated county routes in SE region of Romania.

  10. Some statistics As a result of these advocacy efforts, in 2010 the activity of the competition authority was reflected in: • 3342 postings in the written press, radio-TV and news websites - an increase of about 80% compared to 2009. • press releases issued by RCC recorded in 2010 an increase with around 9% above the number of press releases in 2009. • the number of information requests submitted based on the law on the access to public information has decreased by 56% compared to 2009. • number of petitions i.e. letters by which legal or natural persons bring to the attention of the Competition Council various issues has decreased by 19%.

  11. Conclusions (1/2) • As competition enforcement and competition advocacy are interdependent in many ways, success in building and development the competition culture has obvious benefits for enforcement: • businesses will more readily comply voluntarily with the competition law; • businesses and the public will more willingly co-operate with enforcement actions, by providing evidence; • policy makers will more enthusiastically support the mission of the competition agency, in particular by giving more resources to it.

  12. Conclusions (2/2) A very intensive competition advocacy activity reflected in the competition enforcement in the following: • Increase in the no. of complaints notified to RCC : in 2010, 8 times compared to 2009 and 4 times compared to 2008 • Increase in the no. of investigations opened: 26 in 2010/ 16 opened in 2008 • Decrease in the number of ex-officio investigations in 1st semester of 2011 /1st semester of 2010. • Increase in sanctions imposed by RCC: in 2010 by almost 14 times compared to 2009 - 31.49 million Euro.

  13. Future priorities • Developing a project with National Statistics Institute for setting up indicators to be used in detecting potential anticompetitive behaviors on essential sectors. • Improving the capacity to influence legislative process • Using in a better way the legal tool of commitments

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