The Chairman of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection initiates antitrust proceedings on competition-restricting practices either upon request or ex officio. The Chairman does not initiate any proceedings on competition-restricting practices if one year has expired from the end of the year in which such practices ceased. If the Chairman of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection declares a breach of the prohibition set forth in the Law, he issues a decision on finding such practice to be restrictive for competition and on ordering the breaching party to abstain from it. A fine for a breach of the prohibition set forth in Art. 5 or in Art. 8 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Law or for a breach of Art. 101 or Art. 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union is no more than 10% of the revenue generated by an entrepreneur in the settlement year preceding the year in which the fine was imposed. It is the Chairman of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection who levies the fine. Appeals against decisions issued by the Chairman of the Office are reviewed by the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Law safeguards the public interest (protection of the freedom of competition), with private interests being safeguarded by the 1999 Law on Combating Unfair Competition, which is intended to protect fair competition principles. The said Law defines an act of unfair competition as an act contrary to the law or good practice if it jeopardizes or contravenes the interest of another entrepreneur or customer. More specifically, the Law sets forth the following acts of unfair competition: (i) misleading labeling of a business, (ii) false or fraudulent labeling of the geographic origin of goods or services, (iii) misleading labeling of goods or services, (iv) breach of a trade secret, (v) inducing a party to terminate or fail to perform an agreement, (vi) copying products, (vii) slandering or unfair praise, (viii) hindering others’ access to the market, (ix) bribing a public servant, (x) unfair or forbidden advertising, (xi) organizing a pyramid selling system, and (xii) conducting or organizing syndicated operations.