IMPLEMENTING COMPETITION POLICY. COMPARATIVE STUDY - ROMANIA AND BULGARIA

Andreea-Florina Fora () and Nicoleta Georgeta Bugnar ()
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Andreea-Florina Fora: Department of International Business, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Oradea
Nicoleta Georgeta Bugnar: Department of International Business, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Oradea

Annals of Faculty of Economics, 2017, vol. 1, issue 2, 319-327

Abstract: The competition policies play an important role in the European Union, because only a competing market can generate competitivity. Only a loyal competition can bring benefits to the consumers and the companies that are present on the respective market. In this way, the European Commission closely collaborates with competition authorities in each member state, to implement an adequate competition policy. In this paper, we propose to analyze by comparison the way in which Romania and Bulgaria have managed to implement competition policies after having joined the European Union. The reason for selecting these two countries is that both have joined the EU in the same year (2007), thus the study could be carried out over a homogenous timeframe. The research methodology was based on analyzing yearly reports published by the Competition Council in Romania and the Commission for Protection of Competition in Bulgaria. Despite the limitations encountered during the research, we managed to create a database for a period of 9 years, between 2007 – 2015. The study followed these directions: anti-competition practices (cartels and abuse of a dominant position), mergers, sanctions and fines given out by competition authorities and the number of investigations started by these authorities. The results of the study have highlighted a series of interesting aspects, but one aspect got our attention the most: the efforts undertaken by competition authorities to implement competition policies as well as possible. Definitely this would not have been possible if the Competition Council in Romania and the Commission for Protection of Competition in Bulgaria have not started early to harmonize their national regulations with the European Legislation regarding competition. As proof, the study pointed out that in the timeframe we have analyzed, the Romanian authorities have issued 481 decisions regarding breaches in competition regulations and mergers, while the Bulgarian authorities have issued 767 decisions. By realizing the importance of applying an adequate competition policy, the authorities in each country have taken as their objective the permanent improvement of national regulations regarding competition, as well as to harmonize it to the European standards.

Keywords: competition policy; cartel; abuse of dominant positions; mergers; decisions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F15 K21 L40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ora:journl:v:1:y:2017:i:2:p:319-327

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