Nice Places in Bulgaria. Bulgaria Guide.

Bulgaria: Greater protection - International Financial Law Review ... Bulgaria: Greater protection. SUPPLEMENT - THE 2008 GUIDE TO COMPETITION AND ANTITRUST - OCTOBER 01, 2008. Mariya Papazova of Andreev, Stoyanov & Tsekova in ... The CPC's tasks include: (i) investigating prohibited agreements and abuses of a dominant position; (ii) assessing concentrations in relation to their compatibility with competition rules; and (iii) carrying out investigations. The CPC has the power to impose fines for infringements of the CPA and to adopt appropriate orders to restore effective competition.In preparation for Bulgaria's EU accession, the CPA was brought in line with EC competition rules. In addition, the infringing undertakings face fines of up to Lev300,000 ($220,000). Failure to comply with the decision of the CPA may lead to fines of up to Lev500,000. In order for an agreement to be regarded de-minimis, the undertakings concerned must not exceed certain market share thresholds. If the parties to the agreements are active on the same level of supply, their combined market share must not exceed 5%. In all other cases, the undertakings concerned must not have an individual market share in excess of 10%. In order to enhance legal certainty, the CPA has adopted several regulations that exempt specific types of agreements if certain requirements are met. Four such block exemption regulations are in force. The types of agreements covered are: (i) vertical agreements in general; (ii) distribution agreements in the motor vehicle industry; (iii) specialisation agreements; and (iv) research and development agreements. Very few such individual exemptions have been granted so far.Case lawThe CPC has conducted several investigations relating to suspected infringements of the cartel prohibition in recent years. In the second half of 2007, six such investigations were instigated, of which five saw the respective undertakings being raided by CPC officials. In total, fines of Lev2.5 million were imposed. The Association was fined Lev20,000 and the 14 insurance companies were fined between Lev100,000 and Lev250,000 each. This case was the first in which the CPC established an infringement of Article 81 of the EC Treaty.Also in July 2008, the CPC imposed fines of Lev293,000 on 28 egg and poultry manufacturers for infringing the cartel prohibition. The undertakings were found to have fixed prices and exchanged sensitive business information through the Association of Poultry Producers (the Association was fined Lev5,000). In total, 36 undertakings were involved in the infringement, with eight of them having the same parent undertaking. The three largest manufacturers were hit with a fine of Lev300,000. The three companies entered into agreements with importers that made the import of products with Diageo trade marks conditional upon their explicit permission. The three Diageo group companies were fined a total of Lev600,000.Further decisions are expected to be adopted in the near future. The list follows the one contained in Article 82 of the EC Treaty. However, the CPA provides for a refutable presumption of market dominance if an undertaking has a market share of more than 35%.Undertakings that are found to have abused their market dominant position may be fined up to Lev300,000. In addition, the undertakings can be ordered to cease their abusive conduct. If the infringing undertaking does not comply with the CPC decision, a fine of up to Lev500,000 may be imposed. In May 2008, the CPC fined Bulgarian Post EAD, the state-owned postal services monopoly, for the abuse of its dominant position in the market for home delivery services of periodical newspapers and magazines. The CPC established that Bulgarian Post EAD engaged in predatory pricing between 2005 and 2008 by providing home delivery services to customers at price levels below costs with the aim of forcing competitors to exit the market. The abusive behaviour of BTC included the imposition of unjustified high access fees, refusal to grant access and bundling. Kremikovzi AD is a leading manufacturer of cast iron and various steel products. A byproduct of the manufacture of these products is granule slag, which is used in the production of slag cement. Kremikavozi is the only supplier of granule slag in Bulgaria and is active in this market through its subsidiary Kremikovzi Trade EOOD.Kremikovzi was fined for charging excessive slag prices. The third fine of Lev100,000 was imposed for discriminating against customers.In April 2007, a remarkable case was finally brought to an end when the CPC dismissed a complaint by Vemira against Metro Cash & Carry Bulgaria. The complaint was filed in 2003 and the CPC, after conducting a proper investigation, fined Metro Cash & Carry Bulgaria for the abuse of its dominant position in the market for the cash and carry trade of sweets. Metro Bulgaria appealed and the Supreme Administrative Court annulled the decision on the basis that the CPC had applied too narrow a market definition. The case was referred back to the CPC, which fined Metro Bulgaria again for an abuse of market dominance, applying virtually the same market definition. Not surprisingly, the decision was appealed a second time and annulled again. However, the CPC in its recent decisional practice – in contrast to the wording of the law – does take into account the entire Bulgarian turnover of the undertakings concerned.The CPC has not formally acknowledged a domestic effects doctrine. Thus, all foreign-to-foreign transactions that meet the turnover thresholds require clearance by the CPC. A decision to open second phase proceedings must be published in the Official Gazette. Following the publication, the CPC has three months to ultimately decide whether to approve the transaction or not.Undertakings must not implement the transaction before obtaining formal clearance. A violation of this suspension clause can entail fines of up to Lev300,000. Schneider & Schneider OEG and Duropack AG did not notify the acquisition of joint control over Trakia Papir AD, one of the largest Bulgarian manufacturers of paper products. Duropack AG also failed to notify the subsequent acquisition of all of the shares in Trakia Papir. In order to provide cartels with an incentive to report their anticompetitive practices, the CPA, like the vast majority of other European competition authorities, has introduced a leniency programme, following the one adopted by the European Commission. Generally, the Draft seeks to further align Bulgarian competition law with EC competition rules and provide the CPC with the appropriate tools for an effective enforcement of competition law. It therefore comes as no surprise that the Draft sets out significantly increased maximum fines for competition law infringements (up to 10% of the respective undertaking's worldwide turnover). The Draft is expected to be adopted by the end of 2008. She specialises in competition law, IP law and corporate and commercial law. Upon graduation from Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski, Mariya worked in a reputable Bulgarian law firm from 1999 to 2001. In 2003 she completed her LLM at Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. Before joining Advokatsko druzhestvo Andreev Stoyanov & Tsekova in 2007, Mariya worked at the Bulgarian Commission for the Protection of Competition for four years. During her work at the Commission, she completed a four-month traineeship in the European Commission DG Competition.Franz UrlesbergerSchoenherrFranz Urlesberger became a partner at Schoenherr in 2007, where he works in the firm's EU and competition unit in Vienna. Franz also heads the respective competition practices in the firm's CEE offices. He obtained his law degrees from the University of Salzburg (JD, 2000) and the London School of Economics (LLM, 1999). Franz has been a member of the Austrian Bar since 2003. His practice focuses on European and Austrian competition law, where he represents and advises clients from a wide range of industries, including paper and packaging, energy, oil and media. He is engaged in all types of public and private litigation, as well as giving out of court advice and – of course – engaging in merger control work. In addition, he has gained broad experience in supporting firms to implement comprehensive antitrust compliance programmes. 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