Zásadní změny v zákoně o ochraně hospodářské soutěže

Fundamental changes to the Act on Protection of Competition

A significant amendment to theAct on Protection of Competition was published in the Collection of Laws on 14 July 2023 under No. 226/2023 Coll. The amendment will come into force on 29 July 2023.

Probably the most significant change through which the amendment will affect the area of competition supervision is the fact that the Office for the Protection of Competition (the "Office") will no longer be obliged to specify the premises of a competitor to be inspected during on-site inspections. Instead, a precise identification of the inspected entity will suffice.

The new wording of the Act is based on the findings of administrative practice, where in most cases it is unrealistic to specifically identify all the premises of the intended on-site inspection in advance (e.g. due to recent relocation of the headquarters or branches or incorrect address designation, multiple buildings located close to each other, etc.). Similarly, it is usually not possible to clearly identify other (specific) premises to be inspected, such as company cars.

The amendment will also modify the institution of reduction of the fine in cases ofout-of-court agreement, under which the Office will now have the discretion to decide on a reduction of the fine in the range of 10-20% compared to the current fixed reduction of 20%. It will now also be possible to impose a ban on the performance of public contracts together with the fine reduction, but for a maximum period of one year.

If you would like more detailed information, please contact the authors of this article or other members of EY Law or the EY team with whom you work.

Authors:

Jan Turek

Ondřej Pajatsch