The Czech Office for the Protection of Competition (“Office”) held its annual St. Martin’s Conference, reflecting on this year’s achievements while setting ambitious priorities for 2025. Major legislative changes and new tools are on the horizon, as part of the Office’s strategy to expand its regulatory and oversight powers.
 

New Market Tool Reform Bill Approved by Government

The current no. 1 priority of the Office is seeing its major amendment proposal of the Act no. 143/2001 Coll., on the protection of competition (“Amendment”), pass through the legislative process. The Amendment aims to endow the Office with notable new powers, including control over “distorted” markets where no anticompetitive conduct has been identified, requiring call-in reviews for certain mergers and sanctioning individuals (executives etc.) involved in anticompetitive conduct. See our earlier analysis of the proposed Amendment, available here.

The Amendment has now been approved by the Government and will move forward for discussion in Parliament. Since our analysis in September, the provisions of the Amendment have stayed intact with two notable exceptions. The proposed administrative sanctioning of individual persons will only involve willful anticompetitive conduct – negligent conduct was originally covered as well. The Amendment initially also sought to revoke the assumption that competitors with a market share of under 40% do not have a dominant position. This has also been dropped, however, the assumption is set to remain. 
 

More Sectoral Investigations Incoming

In the past year, the Office has initiated two sectoral investigations – of the waste management market and the off-trade market for non-alcoholic beverages. The Office also published revised guidelines on sanctions assessment for anticompetitive conduct, including possible reductions for the introduction of compliance programs. 

Moving forward, initiation of further sectoral investigations is expected. The Amendment also aims to introduce mandatory public consultation of sectoral investigation reports. Furthermore, the Office is set to establish a new department of the lead economist and sectoral analysts, as well as introduce an online whistleblower tool and review soft law tools.
 

Enforcement focus on digital markets, large players and RPM agreements

Regarding enforcement, the Office has seen a 25% rise in public tip-offs about anticompetitive conduct. However, these often come without sound reasoning. The Office has initiated 6 administrative proceedings regarding anticompetitive conduct this year, of which 2 relate to digital markets. It emphasizes that none of the proceedings are launched against small or medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”). SMEs are not immune from enforcement, however this trend reflects the Office’s priority of targeting larger market players. 

The Office has also dealt with the first case relating to sanctioning no-poaching agreements – although not the Office’s priority, these too will remain on the Office’s radar. In 2 instances, the Office has dealt out sanctions for gun-jumping in mergers. Sanctioning vertical RPM agreements also remains a priority for the Office’s enforcement activity.
 

Office Gains Access to Pricing Data from Authorities

One of the Office’s long-term aims is to gain access to data from other authorities which may be of relevance for its competition investigations. As a first materialisation of this strategy, an amendment to the Act on Prices is now set to enable the Office to access data from pricing authorities, effective January 2025. 

The amendment will equip the Office with data-driven insight into pricing trends across key sectors like agriculture and food, where price dynamics may indicate risks to competition. It will enable data sharing from agencies such as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health, and the Czech Trade Inspection Authority. 

All in all, the St. Martin conference offered fresh insight on where the Office’s attention lies and what activity and policy may be expected going forward. We will continue to monitor the developments.

The Office’s press report regarding the conference can be found here (in Czech only).

If you need more information or further guidance in this area, please contact Vojtěch Chloupek, Martin Taimr and Matej Šinkovic.

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