The interaction between public entities and the markets for goods and services is complex and diverse. The objective of public entities is to promote national economic growth, stability and investor protection, while also pursuing comprehensive social and political objectives. In particular, public entities have different roles and ways of acting on the market, including as market participants.
The legislator has entrusted the Competition Council with ensuring that public entities do not adversely affect the development of markets and the competitive environment.
The Competition Council has two distinct core activities in the area of supervision of public entities:
- The regulation of competition neutrality, which is contained in Section 14.1 of the Competition Law and applies to all situations where the conduct of a public entity results in the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition. The regulation has a wide scope of application, e.g. it applies both in cases where the restriction of competition results from the conduct of a public entity or its capital company, and in cases where the public entity, as the contracting authority, has included restrictive provisions in its procurement documentation;
- Issuing opinions on draft legislation which directly or indirectly deals with issues relating to the protection, preservation or development of competition. In this way, the Competition Council participates in the process of drafting legislation by making suggestions or expressing objections with a view to ensuring the most pro-competitive regulatory framework. This activity also includes the provision of opinions on the existence of the prerequisites laid down in Section 88 of the State Administration Structure Law for the establishment or acquisition of a participation in a capital company of a public person, as well as for the continuation of a participation when the participation of a public person in a capital company is reassessed. At the same time, it should be noted that the final decision on the need to engage in the market and provide commercial services is made by the public entity itself.