After a standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia (the “Commission”) has started initiating its proceedings basing them on violations of antitrust rules. It is obvious that their current focus is on the Serbian market of consumer electronics.

Namely, two proceedings have been initiated on this market as a result of two dawn raids. The dawn raids were directly caused by information published by Eurostat, pursuant to which the prices of the relevant products were significantly higher than in the European Union.

After these dawn raids, the Commission commenced proceedings against distributors and retailers of consumer electronics claiming concerted practices (same or almost the same prices), and against the importer of Nespresso brand for the same reason, i.e. suspecting the violation of antitrust rules related to the resale-price maintenance.

Both procedures are pending and it remains to be seen whether and how the Commission will succeed in proving the existence of concerted practices, which is one of the most complex issues of the antitrust law.