MONTENEGRO Law and Practice Contributed by: Bisera Andrijasevic and Marija Ksenija Popović, BDK Advokati
Notice. Ancillary restraints that meet the criteria established in the Notice are considered part of the transaction and are covered by the Agency’s clearance decision. 7. Third-Party Rights, Confidentiality and Cross-Border Co-Operation 7.1 Third-Party Rights Third parties, including persons submitting initia - tives to the Agency, providing information and documents, or any other interested parties or organisations, do not have the status of a party to the proceedings before the Agency nor are they formally involved in the review process. However, there are several ways in which third parties may influence the procedures before the Agency. Any person may submit an initiative to the Agency to investigate a potential infringement of competition. In its merger review process, the Agency publishes a notice for each notified concentration, which includes the names of the parties, their related entities in Montenegro, and a brief description of the concentration. Third parties may submit concerns regarding a noti - fied concentration. When the Agency opens an investigation and conducts a full review of a noti - fied concentration, it invites all interested parties to provide information and suggestions and may also send questionnaires directly to competitors or other undertakings in related or vertically inte - grated markets. Undertakings and other legal or natural persons are required, at the Agency’s request, to provide data and documentation rel - evant to establishing facts in the proceedings within a period of no less than three days and no more than 30 days from the date of receipt of the request.
The Agency may, upon request, send a non-con - fidential version of the statement of objections to the person or entity that submitted the initiative, along with an instruction granting the initiator the right to submit written objections to the Agency within eight days of receiving the notice. Addi - tionally, upon request, the Agency may provide the statement of objections to any other third party able to demonstrate that the proceedings involve decisions affecting their rights or legal interests. 7.2 Contacting Third Parties During the investigative phase of more com - plex reviews, the Agency seeks input from third parties, typically by issuing written requests for information. Market testing of remedies pro - posed by the parties is uncommon. 7.3 Confidentiality During the merger review process, the Agency publishes a notice in the Official Gazette of Mon - tenegro for each notified concentration, which includes the names of the parties, their related entities in Montenegro, and a brief description of the concentration. A party providing commercially sensitive infor - mation may request confidentiality from the Agency, which can be granted if the request is justified and the need for protection outweighs the public’s right to access the data. The request - ing party must demonstrate the potential harm that could result from disclosing the informa - tion or its source. The process for safeguarding sensitive information is outlined in the Notice on
Protection of Confidential Data. 7.4 Co-Operation With Other Jurisdictions
The Agency is a member of the International Competition Network. It actively participates in
393 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook