MONTENEGRO Trends and Developments Contributed by: Bisera Andrijasevic and Marija Ksenija Popović, BDK Advokati
EU Soft Law Formally Incorporated: Relevance for Merger Control Following the adoption of the Act, Montenegro also enacted the Regulation on the List of Competition Rules, formally transposing a wide range of EU soft law instruments into the domestic framework. From a merger control perspective, the most relevant instruments include: • the Commission Consolidated Jurisdictional Notice under the EUMR; • the Commission Notice on Simplified Procedure for Certain Concentrations; • the Guidelines on the Assessment of Non‑Horizon - tal Mergers; • the Guidelines on the Assessment of Horizontal Mergers; and • the Best Practices on the Submission of Economic Evidence and Data Collection in Merger Cases. Their formal incorporation confirms that EU merger control concepts, analytical frameworks and eviden - tiary standards will directly inform the Agency’s prac - tice. Transparency of Enforcement Under the new Act, the Agency is required to pub - lish the full text of its decisions, subject to redaction of confidential information upon request. Previously, only the operative part of decisions was made public. This change will significantly enhance transparency by making the Agency’s case law accessible, including its approach to defining relevant markets and con - ducting substantive assessments. As a result, parties will be better positioned to anticipate the Agency’s reasoning, which should facilitate the preparation of notifications and improve the overall predictability and consistency of enforcement. Over time, the systematic publication of full decisions is also expected to contribute to the development of a coherent and accessible body of decisional prac -
tice. This may, in effect, create a database of prec - edents, enabling practitioners to benchmark future cases against prior decisions and better anticipate the Agency’s analytical approach. At the same time, the extent to which this objective is achieved will depend on the scope of confidentiality redactions, as overly broad redactions could limit the practical value of published decisions. Outlook While the merger control regime benefits from increased procedural flexibility and clearer timelines, low notification thresholds will continue to capture a large volume of unproblematic transactions. By retaining fining powers within the courts, an oppor - tunity to streamline enforcement has been missed. Parallel administrative and judicial proceedings are likely to continue to affect efficiency and increase complexity for businesses. Overall, the reforms point towards a more mature and EU‑oriented competition law environment, albeit one that is still marked by structural inefficiencies. In this setting, proactive compliance and early transaction planning will be more important than ever. Looking ahead, further adjustments to the merger control framework appear likely as Montenegro con - tinues its alignment with EU competition law. In par - ticular, revisiting notification thresholds and reconsid - ering the allocation of fining powers may become key priorities, especially in light of the practical limitations identified under the current regime. The pace of leg - islative change observed over the past year suggests that reform will continue to be driven, at least in part, by the pace of the broader EU accession agenda. The extent to which these reforms will translate into more effective and streamlined enforcement will ulti - mately depend on the Agency’s capacities, most nota - bly human capacities which are currently lacking, to operationalise the new framework and to develop a consistent decisional practice in the years ahead.
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