Merger Control is regulated by the Competition Act of Montenegro (Zakon o zaštiti konkurencije), “Official Gazette of Montenegro” nos 44/2012, 13/2018 and 145/2021 (“Competition Act”), in force since 2012. In the absence of specific regulation regarding procedural issues, the Competition Act is supplemented by the Administrative Procedure Act (Zakon o upravnom postupku) “Official Gazette of Montenegro” nos 46/2014, 20/2015, 40/2016, and 37/2017, and the Administrative Dispute Act (Zakon o upravnom sporu) “Official Gazette of Montenegro” no 54/2016.
The Competition Act establishes the Agency for the Protection of Competition of Montenegro (“Agency”), which serves as the watchdog for all competition and state aid related issues.
Apart from the Competition Act, merger control is regulated by several bylaws, such as:
- the Rulebook on Method and Criteria for Defining Relevant Markets (Pravilnik o načinu i kriterijumima za utvrđivanje relevantnog tržišta) “Official Gazette of Montenegro” no. 48/2020,
- Guidelines on the Content and Method of Submitting a Request for Issuance of Approval for Implementation of a Merger (Uputstvo o sadržaju i načinu podnošenja zahtjeva za izdavanje odobrenja za sprovođenje koncentracije) “Official Gazette of Montenegro” no. 44/2012,
- Notice on the Protection of Confidential Business Information in Proceedings Before the Agency, no. 1-233/1, dated September 30, 2014 (Obavještenje o zaštiti povjerljivih poslovnih podataka u postupku pred Agencijom za zaštitu konkurencije), and
- Fee Schedule on the Amount of Fees Payable in Proceedings Before the Agency “Official Gazette of Montenegro” no. 44/2012 (Tarifnik o visini naknada koje se plaćaju u postupku pred Agencijom za zaštitu konkurencije), as well as Agency’s opinions where applicable.
Fines for the breaches of competition law are imposed by the Misdemeanor Court (Sud za prekršaje) through misdemeanor proceedings governed by the Misdemeanor Act (Zakon o prekršajima) “Official Gazette of Montenegro” nos 1/2011, 6/2011, 39/2011, 32/2014, 43/2017 and 51/2017. Accordingly, the Agency is vested solely with the authority to determine a competition law infringement or approve a concentration, while the power to impose fines rests exclusively with the Misdemeanor Court.