The Cabinet of Ministers has approved amendments to the Competition Law prepared by the Ministry of Economics during its meeting on 11 June. These amendments aim to encourage public procurement entities to take a more active role in recovering losses incurred as a result of violations of the Competition Law by market participants in organised procurement procedures.
With the amendments to the law, the Competition Council (CC) is assigned a new function: to provide methodological support to public procurement entities in identifying, assessing, and calculating losses caused by violations of the Competition Law. The amendment stipulates that the CC will provide consultations to public procurement entities on the calculation of loss assessments and the choice of calculation methods, as well as provide support to the public procurement entity in calculating the incurred losses for the purpose of filing a claim with the court.
At the same time, the law includes separate conditions for the implementation of the new function, distinguishing it from the investigation of violations of the Competition Law carried out within the administrative process to eliminate the risks of conflicts of interest. This means that the new CC unit will only analyse the information submitted by the public procurement entity, and its opinions, calculations, and consultations will be of a recommendatory nature. It is also stipulated that the Chairman of the Competition Council will exercise institutional supervision over the new unit in the form of oversight, without being involved in the provision of opinions and their substantive content.
As part of an ongoing effort to encourage public procurement bodies to actively pursue the recovery of losses incurred due to violations of the Competition Law by market participants in organised procurement procedures, the Ministry of Economics developed and presented an informative report titled ‘Measures to promote the active involvement of public procurement entities in recovering losses incurred due to violations of the Competition Law by market participants in organised procurement procedures’ to the Cabinet of Ministers on 9 January. In support of the Ministry of Economics proposed solution, the Ministry of Economics, in collaboration with the CC, was tasked with preparing amendments to the Competition Law, establishing a new function for the CC: providing methodological support to public procurement entities in identifying losses resulting from violations of the Competition Law. These amendments also regulate the cooperation procedures, responsibilities, and obligations of public procurement entities and the CC in the loss recovery process.
Detailed information on the amendments to the Competition Law can be found in the public portal for Legislative proposals. The amendments still require approval by the Saeima (Parliament).
Source: The Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia