The highlight of the month is that the Serbian NCA has started an investigation against Visa, just a month after it launched a similar probe against Mastercard.
Elsewhere, Macedonia gets new members of the NCA, while Bosnia changes its system of calculating merger filing fees.
Serbia
Antitrust
Serbian NCA investigates Visa
Just a month after it launched an investigation against Mastercard, the Serbian NCA has now also gone after Visa. Specifically, it is investigating three Visa entities: VISA Incorporated (USA), VISA International Service Association (USA) and VISA CEMEA Holdings Limited (UK). The NCA is alleging the same breach as the one which was the reason for investigating Mastercard: unjustifiably high interchange fees, which are several times higher than the fees applicable in the EU.
Merger control
Eight new merger decisions
During the previous month, the Serbian NCA rendered eight new merger decisions. All were unconditional Phase I clearances.
State aid
One new State aid decision
During the previous month, the Serbian State Aid Commission published one new decision - clearing a scheme for supporting SMEs.
Montenegro
No new developments
Another quiet month in Montenegro - nothing to report here.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Merger control
New system of calculating merger filing fees
Bosnia and Herzegovina has introduced a new system of calculating the amount of the merger filing fee. The new system is seemingly influenced by the way the fee is calculated in Serbia, since now in Bosnia too in certain cases the merger filing fee depends on the turnover of the parties. Specifically, when the NCA opens a Phase II investigation, the fee will no longer be in a fixed amount, but will depend on the parties' turnover on the Bosnian market. You can read more about these changes in our blog post from January this year, when this was just a proposal.
Macedonia (FYROM)
New Competition Commission Appointed
Macedonia's NCA - Commission for Protection of Competition - has a new President and four other members of the NCA's governing body. The appointees are:
- Vladimir Naumovski (President);
- Dimitrija Vrevezoski (a member of the Commission and the head of the body which imposes fines for competition law infringements);
- Naser Zharku (a member of the Commission);
- Aleksandar Davchevski (a member of the Commission); and
- Ana Vitkova (a member of the Commission).
Merger control
Three new merger notifications
During October, the Macedonian NCA announced the receipt of three merger notifications:
- Global Special Opportunities Ltd. (Bahamas) - Feni Industries (Macedonia)
- MHP SE (Cyprus) - Perutnina Ptuj d.d.
- IN2 doo (Croatia) - IN2 dooel (Macedonia)
General
Merger control in the Balkans: The app
We have developed an innovative online app for checking the merger filing thresholds in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia (FYROM).
Originally sent by e-mail. Original issue (mailchi.mp) · gajin.rs