The Bulgarian Competition Protection Commission (CPC) has unveiled its policy priorities for 2024, marking the third consecutive year of such announcements. Aligned with the European Commission’s strategic agenda, the CPC’s decision aims to articulate the policies, steps, and actions required to achieve its goals. This disclosure offers valuable insights for companies, enabling them to ready themselves for potential proceedings.
In 2024, the CPC will persist in prioritizing several sectors, maintaining continuity with the focus of the past two years:
- Pharmaceuticals:
- Addressing anti-competitive behavior resulting in medicine shortages, software integration challenges, and parallel import issues.[1]
- Digital Services and E-commerce:
- Vigilantly monitoring legislative initiatives tied to the EU Digital Markets Act and the EU Digital Services Act.
- Scrutinizing anticompetitive conduct, especially among gatekeepers in digital services and e-commerce.
- Energy:
- Giving particular attention to the production and sale of renewable energy.
- Sustainability:
- Placing emphasis on agreements between competitors pursuing sustainability goals, in line with EU Horizontal Guidelines.
- Concentrating on the food and agricultural supply chain.
- Public Sector:
- Focusing on detecting bid-rigging within the public sector.
- Fuel Market:
- Addressing concerns tied to current political and economic trends.
- Ensuring compliance with recent case-law.
- Food Sector:
- Continuing the stringent monitoring of market players’ conduct concerning price increases of essential food stock.
- Scrutinizing public statements from authorities, branch organizations, and market participants.
- Financial Services:
- Giving specific attention to services provided by fintech companies.
The 2024 priorities closely align with those of the prior two years, with subtle adjustments based on prevailing economic trends, the political landscape, and legislative initiatives. Staying abreast of updates on the CPC’s priorities throughout the year is advised for businesses.
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[1] Recently, the Bulgarian Competition Protection Commission (CPC) has adopted an effect-based approach in addressing an alleged abuse of dominance case related to parallel import. For detailed information on this development, you can refer to CPC Case No. КЗК/458/2022 by visiting the following link: CPC Case No. КЗК/458/2022.
