THE STATUS OF INTERESTED PARTIES IN THE CONTROL OF CONCENTRATION PROCEEDINGS

The procedure for the control of concentration is a specific administrative procedure, initiated, as a rule, by participants in a concentration. The applicants are ex-lege parties in the proceedings and have full procedural rights. Target companies, and companies within the same group, sellers of company shares or property, competitors, suppliers, buyers and consumer associations might be interested in participating in the proceedings. In competition law, a dispute exists regarding the participation of interested parties in proceedings for control of concentrations and their procedural powers. In the EU, Council Regulation No 139/2004 and Commission Regulation 802/2004 regulate in detail the status of concentration applicants and interested undertakings. Third parties have a right to be heard, and if the Commission deprives them of this right, they can get legal protection before the Court of Justice of the EU. A restricted access to information and data in the Commission’s case file represents a massive obstacle to the effective participation of third parties in the concentration control proceedings.

General administrative law of the Republic of Serbia lays down rules on the status of an indirect party, making it almost equal to the status of the direct party. The Competition Protection Act substantially restricted the implementation of these rules by enumerating persons with party standing in proceedings before the Commission for Protection of Competition and persons deprived of such right. The Commission does not apply a provision in the General Administrative Act concerning an indirect party, denying the interested parties the right to participate in the proceedings. The Administrative Court confirmed this position in several judgments. The restrictive interpretation of legal norms on parties in the control of concentration proceedings leads to the deprivation of the right to be heard of interested third parties.

The author has analysed the status of interested parties in the proceedings for the control of concentration in the European Union and the Republic of Serbia, aiming to identify inconsistencies in the Serbian control of concentration proceedings, by comparing it with generally accepted legal principles and Council Regulation 139/2004 and Commission Regulation 802/2004. It is necessary to promote the status of interested parties, since their participation in the proceedings for control of concentrations is not only a means to protect private interests. It contributes to the transparency and impartiality of the work of the national competition authority.