Competition and public procurement

We have deep knowledge in all aspects of competition law, mainly with investigations of potential dominant position abuse, investigations of cartels, vertical agreements, dawn raids and mergers, both from the national and EU competition law perspective.

In competition, we have provided legal advice in acquisition of most popular daily newspaper Nový čas. We also stood by Slovak poultry farmers in their fight against the import of cheap eggs from Poland at dumped prices, and thanks to the submission to the European Commission, we achieved the elimination of this anti-competitive practice. We also provided legal advice on competition law to a major hotel chain.

In public procurement, we had the opportunity to provide legal advice to a major consortium of foreign construction companies in tenders for the modernization of railway lines in the amount of more than 300 million euros.

Our clients receive comprehensive competition law advice, in particular:

• reviewing competition aspects of agreements, contracts and other arrangements, both vertical and horizontal, including distribution and franchise;
• reviewing the compliance of commercial practices applied by dominant undertakings with competition rules;
• drafting and application of a competition compliance programme;
• advising on merger control, including legal representation for merger notification of the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic;
• representing in proceedings concerning potential dominant position abuse before the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic or the European Commission;
• representing in proceedings concerning a potential agreement restricting competition before the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic or the European Commission;
• we are ready to give you urgent legal assistance in the event of a dawn raid organised by the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic or the European Commission;
• advising on lenience programmes, i.e., whistleblowing of a cartel agreement in exchange for immunity from fines.

We are well suited to advise you on public procurement issues:

• advising contracting authorities and entities in the preparation, progress and evaluation of the public procurement process, drafting contractual documents with the tender winner;
• advising candidates and tenderers in the public procurement process, drafting of tenders and documents, applying review procedures and presenting objections to the Office for Public Procurement.

In providing legal services, we can rely on the professional experience of our colleagues, which they gained through their long-term work at the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic and the Office for Public Procurement of the Slovak Republic.