The project aimed to improve the implementation and enforcement of competition law and policy in Croatia, in the process of the country’s integration into the EU and its alignment with the Acquis Communautaire.
Two target areas were addressed under two different project components: the Public Administration and the private sector on the one hand (Component 1); the Croatian Competition Agency (CCA) on the other hand (Component 2).
Within Component 1 the project raised awareness and understanding of the competition policy regime among governmental and non-governmental bodies, and the public at large. Training and awareness events were organised for: the regulatory entities in the energy, telecommunication and banking sectors; the judicial bodies (namely the Administrative, Commercial and Misdemeanour courts); the universities (namely the Universities of Zagreb and Osijek); the business sector (through the support of the Croatian Employers’ Association - HUP); the lawyers (through the Croatian Bar Association – CBA); and the consumers’ associations (in co-operation with CARDS project Capacity Building in the Area of Consumer Protection). Furthermore material targeted to businesses was elaborated and disseminated throughout Croatia.
Component 2 strengthened the institutional and administrative capacity of the CCA through an intense capacity building programme including on-the-job training, internal seminars and study visits abroad. On the job-training will focus on case-related discussion (both closed and on-going cases), advice on the application of competition rules in some priority sectors (Telecommunications, Energy, Media and Bus Transportation), and support to amend the Competition Act and the Court Act.