Expanding the Definitions of ‘Undertaking’ and ‘Economic Activity’: Application of Competition Rules to the Actions of State Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Authors: Alexandr Svetlicinii
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

State-initiated competition restraints remain a recurrent problem for competition law enforcement in transition economies characterized by a history of price controls and extensive State regulation of economic activities. The application of the concepts of ‘undertaking’ and ‘economic activity’ to the actions of State institutions, as developed in EU competition law, allows national competition authorities to enforce competition rules against public bodies. EU candidate countries, as well as States aspiring to a candidate status, have been continuously reforming their competition laws, aligning them with acquis communautaire and applying EU competition law concepts and standards in their domestic enforcement practices. This paper deals with the particularities of the application of competition rules to the actions of State institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A detailed study of emerging domestic case law demonstrates significant deviations in the interpretation and application of these well known competition law concepts. The legislative and enforcement peculiarities observed in the target jurisdiction are compared with those found in EU competition law and in the legal systems of neighbouring courtiers.

FR

Les restrictions de la concurrence initiées par l’Etat restent un problème répétitif pour l’application du droit de la concurrence dans les pays en transition ayant l’histoire du contrôle des prix et une réglementation vaste relative aux activités économiques imposée par l’Etat. L’application des concepts d’ « entreprise » et d’ « activité économique » à l’action des institutions de l’Etat, mises en oeuvre par le droit communautaire de la concurrence, permet aux autorités nationales d’imposer des règles de la concurrence contre des organes public. Les pays candidats à l’UE et les Etats qui aspirent au statut de pays candidat ont constamment réformé leurs lois sur la concurrence afin de les aligner à l’acquis communautaire et d’appliquer les concepts du droit de la concurrence et des normes européens dans leurs pratiques nationaux. Le document traite sur des particularités de l’application des règles de la concurrence aux actions des institutions de Bosnie-Herzégovine. L’étude détaillée de la jurisprudence actuelle montre des écarts importants dans l’interprétation et l’application de ces concepts du droit de la concurrence bien connus. Les particularités législatives et d’exécution observées dans la juridiction sont comparées avec celles trouvées dans le droit de la concurrence de l’UE et des pays voisins.

Keywords

EN

anti-competitive agreement; antitrust enforcement; Bosnia and Herzegovina; economic activity; sanctions and penalties; State institutions; undertaking

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Warszawski. Wydział Nauk Ekonomicznych
• Journal: Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 6(8)
• Pages: 11-33

Dates

published

2013-12-01

Contributors

author

Alexandr Svetlicinii

• Senior Research Fellow at the Jean Monnet Chair of European Law, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn Law School

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