MONTENEGRO Law and Practice Contributed by: Bisera Andrijasevic and Marija Ksenija Popović, BDK Advokati
not prohibited to request a meeting with the authority to discuss certain important issues or concerns before submitting the notification, but the Agency in general prefers to act on a submitted notification, consider - ing that the deadlines provide for sufficient time for review. 3.9 Requests for Information During the Review Process Requests for information during the review process are frequent. In practice, at least one request for information is typically issued for non-issue concen - trations, while two or three requests are common in cases involving horizontal overlaps or vertical issues on the relevant market. The requests can be burden - some for the parties, as the Agency often demands information outlined in the Merger Notification Guide - lines, even in cases when such information is irrele - vant to the assessment of the notification or unrelated to the relevant markets. As detailed in 3.7 Review Process , each request for information resets the review timeline, with the new deadline starting from the day when the notifying party responds to the request. 3.10 Accelerated Procedure There are two types of notifications in terms of the extent of requested information and documents: full- form and short-form notifications. A short-form noti - fication may be submitted when at least one of the following conditions is met: • the combined market share of the undertakings concerned on the relevant market is less than 10%, and/or less than 15% on a vertically inte - grated market; • an undertaking acquires sole control over an undertaking in which it previously held joint control; or • the undertakings concerned are not active on the same relevant product market, vertically integrated markets, or closely connected markets, whether in or outside Montenegro. There is no fast-track or any other type of acceler - ated review procedure; the deadlines outlined in 3.7 Review Process apply to both short-form and full-
form notifications. However, in practice, short-form notifications are typically cleared faster, often within two months of submission.
4. Substance of the Review 4.1 Substantive Test
The substantive assessment of concentrations in Montenegro is based on a legal framework that incor - porates a set of EU competition soft law instruments through the Competition Rules List. This includes, in particular, the Commission’s merger control guide - lines and notices, such as the Consolidated Juris - dictional Notice, the Guidelines on the Assessment of Horizontal and Non-Horizontal Mergers, as well as related best practice notices. It is therefore expected that the Agency’s substantive assessment will be fully aligned with these EU standards and that the “signifi - cant impediment to effective competition” (SIEC) test, as developed in EU law, will be applied consistently in practice. In accordance with that, the substantive test for assessing concentrations focuses on whether the transaction significantly prevents, restricts or distorts effective competition in the relevant market, particu - larly by creating or strengthening a dominant position. Concentrations meeting these criteria are prohibited unless the parties can demonstrate that the transac - tion provides consumer benefits that outweigh the negative effects of the dominant position. The Agency’s analysis involves a comprehensive eval - uation of multiple criteria, including: • the structure and concentration of the relevant market; • the presence of actual and potential competitors; • the market positions and economic strength of the parties involved; and • the ability of suppliers and customers to switch. Additionally, the assessment considers: • legal and other barriers to market entry; • the level of domestic and international competitive - ness of the parties;
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