Main developments in Competition Law and Policy for 2024 – Slovakia
The Slovak Competition Law continued to evolve in 2024, building on the changes that occurred the previous year. The new leadership (the new chairman and vice-chairman were appointed in 2023), the Antimonopoly Office (AMO) has appeared to be remain committed to its stated goal of transforming itself to a more proactive and dynamic competition authority.
The AMO’s efforts were particularly notable in cartel investigations. The AMO has conducted numerous dawn raids in recent years and initiated administrative proceedings for high-profile cartels. The formal decisions are still pending in these cases. The AMO has also issued relevant decisions on abuse of dominance and merger control. We summarize the most significant ones and the AMO’s policy developments from the past year below.
Anticompetitive Agreements
In 2024, the AMO issued several decisions regarding anti-competitive agreements. The AMO maintained a focus on cartels, imposing several fines and initiating new investigations.
Horizontal agreements
AMO Council’s decisions on bid-rigging in public procurement
The 2024 decisions mainly concern the AMO Council’s (the AMO’s appeal body) decision on bid-rigging in public procurement. In particular:
The AMO Council largely upheld total fines of EUR 7.2 million imposed on four companies for bid-rigging in public procurement concerning construction works in the energy sector. The AMO Council granted partial leniency to one company, which was initially denied by the AMO, based on the insufficient evidence provided. The partial leniency, which resulted in a 10% fine reduction, also led to removing the penalty of blacklisting from public procurements, imposed on the remaining companies for three years, as the AMO cannot blacklist successful leniency applicants from public procurement.
- The AMO Council annulled total fines of EUR 564,111, and blacklisting from public procurement for three years, imposed on four companies for bid-rigging in a public procurement in the food processing sector. The annulment was due to the AMO’s insufficient legal and logical reasoning regarding some of the evidence in the first instance. The case was referred back to the first instance for a new procedure.
- The AMO Council slightly revised the fines to a total of EUR 261,000 imposed on three companies for bid-rigging in a public procurement for the supply of technologies improving production efficiencies of bakeries. The AMO Council increased the fine on one of the investigated firms, which had applied for partial leniency. This was due to errors made by the AMO in the first instance in calculating the fine. For the two remaining companies, the AMO Council upheld the full amount of the fine and the three-year blacklisting.
Number of initiated administrative proceedings
The AMO also opened, but not yet concluded, another three formal investigations resulting from its previous dawn raids. Specifically, the AMO initiated proceedings concerning:
Potential cartel in the medical laboratory diagnostics sector;
- Suspected bid-rigging in the industrial photovoltaic equipment supply; and
- Potential bid-rigging, price fixing, and exchange of sensitive information, in the market for the supply and wholesale distribution of medical products.
- At least one additional new investigation concerning the provision of in-patient healthcare services has already been opened in 2025.
Activities in the labor market
The AMO opened its first investigation into the labor market. The proceedings concern a business association whose code of ethics allegedly prohibited poaching of employees.
Following the initiation of the proceedings, the AMO also published new guidelines on anti-competitive agreements in labor markets with a list of presumptively permitted and prohibited practices. The AMO says that acceptable practices include noncompetition agreements concluded with employees which comply with labor law, collecting information from publicly available sources, conducting anonymous surveys, and engaging with employees in social dialogue. Prohibited practices involve such practices as no-poaching and wage-fixing agreements, harmonization of benefits, and exchange of sensitive information.
Vertical agreements
There were two noteworthy developments in the AMO’s activities in the area of vertical agreements.
Restrictions on broadcasting of Czech TV stations in Slovakia
The AMO conducted an investigation into the broadcasting of Czech TV stations in Slovakia. The AMO conducted an investigation into the broadcasting of Czech TV channels in Slovakia.
Complaints regarding the withdrawal of Czech TV from Slovak operators TV stations were the reason for initiating this investigation.
Restrictions on broadcasting Czech TV stations in Slovakia
The AMO conducted an investigation into Czech TV station’s broadcasting in Slovakia.
Slovak television stations viewed the broadcasting of some Czech programs in Slovakia, as a violation of their exclusive licenses. The AMO carried out a wide investigation of the segment, but concluded that territorial exclusivity in TV broadcasting was not a violation of competition law on its own. The AMO also did not identify any other infringements and closed the investigation without imposing fines.
Packeta
- The second vertical case concerned Packeta, a delivery company offering primarily the service of package delivery from e-shops to customers. Customers can pick up their packages at contracted pick-up locations, which are usually kiosks or small stores. The AMO expressed concern over Packeta contracts with pick-up point, which prohibited the pick-up point from handling parcels for Packeta competitors during the contract period and for a specified time after termination. The AMO decided not to issue a decision in the case. On this basis, the AMO decided not issued a decision in the case.
- Packeta’s non-compete clauses with pick-up points in Czechia were subject to investigation by the Czech competition authority, which led to an adoption of a decision with commitments.
Abuse of Dominance
- In 2024, the AMO issued several abuse of dominance decisions in relation to investigations concerning:
- Discount portal provider. The AMO’s investigation into Slevomat. The AMO expressed concerns over two main issues. (i) An exclusivity clause between Slevomat’s business partners and Slevomat, which limited their ability to market their products and service on competing online portals. (iii) Price restrictions, which prevented their promotion and sale of their products and service on other online platforms for the same or cheaper prices than Slevomat. Slevomat offered to address these concerns by commitments, which the AMO accepted in its commitments decision.
Excessively high bus fares. In two separate investigations the AMO imposed fines on bus station operators of EUR 218,500, and EUR 34,000. This was for charging excessively higher fees to bus companies since January 2019. The investigation was prompted by a complaint made by the Zilina Region Authority, which refunded the fee to bus carriers. In addition to the fines, the AMO also imposed a remedial obligation.
Unreasonable business conditions in the waste management sector. The AMO imposed a total fine of EUR 180,200 on an undertaking in the waste management sector for abusing its dominance by charging significantly higher prices for landfilling mixed municipal waste to certain municipalities without objective justification.
The AMO also closed two dominance investigations without initiating proceedings. Specifically:
The AMO investigated a company active in the sale of liquified natural gas (LNG) and compressed natural gas (CNG). The AMO suspected the company of abusing its dominant position through unfairly low prices in order to drive out competitors and maintain its dominance. The AMO concluded that the prices were not disproportionately low and closed the investigation.
The AMO investigated Dovera, one of three major health insurance companies in Slovakia, owned by Penta, Czech-Slovak private equity group. The investigation focused on Dovera’s announcement of a new service that would allow its customers to reserve a medicine prescribed by a physician through Dovera’s app. The service was only available at Penta-owned pharmacies. The AMO found out that the service was only a trial version, which would be expanded to include other pharmacies. The AMO has thus stopped the investigation.
At least one additional investigation is currently ongoing. The AMO is currently investigating wholesale access to mobile networks by mobile virtual network operators. Currently, Slovakia has no MVNOs. The AMO has so far raised no allegations of infringements.
Merger Control
In 2024, the AMO issued approx. All but two merger decisions resulted in unconditional Phase I clearance. AMO Council upholds record fine for gun jumping in the food sector. The AMO concluded AGROFERT – a major player within the bakeries sector – had acquired indirect control over two Slovak bakeries, without notifying this transaction. AGROFERT informed the AMO of its acquisition of both bakeries in 2013, but AGROFERT later withdrew the notification as the AMO threatened to block the transaction. According to the AMO, AGROFERT purchased both bakeries but split the transaction into two, avoiding the notification thresholds. The AMO’s record fine reflects the intentional circumvention of the merger control rules.
OMV/BENZINOL
The AMO reviewed OMV, one of the largest petrol station operators in Slovakia, and its acquisition of 27 Benzinol petrol stations. The AMO studied the retail market for petrol, diesel and liquified gasoline gas (LPG) at both a national level and local level. It raised no concerns. The AMO concluded, at the local level, that the concentration of petrol stations in a certain area (defined as a 10km radius around a particular petrol-station being acquired) would lead to the creation or the strengthening of dominant positions. The AMO cleared the transaction, subject to divestment from the petrol station in question. The AMO assessed the concentration in terms of vertical effects, but found no negative impacts. The AMO granted the waiver with respect to the acquisition of those petrol stations of which the AMO had no concerns about a possible impact on competition.
HP Invest/NAY
The AMO also approved, subject to remedies, HP Invest’s acquisition of NAY. Both companies are major players on the retail market for consumer electronics in Slovakia. They operate a network of stores across the country, as well as online shops. The AMO studied the electronics retail market, including its subsegments, such as large domestic appliances and small domestic appliances. The AMO analyzed the market for electronics retail, including its subsegments (large domestic appliances, small domestic appliances, etc.). The AMO concluded that the acquisition could create a leader in electronic retail, both at a national and local level. This could harm competition. The AMO allowed the concentration only if the stores in eight locations throughout Slovakia were divested, where competition concerns were the most prominent.
Sensitive transaction that did not meet notification thresholds, and “call-in discussion”
In the year 2023, Penta – a Czech-Slovak group of private equity, which owns a leading tabloid publisher – acquired its main tabloid competitor. Penta didn’t notify the transaction because the target’s turnover fell below EUR 14,000,000, the threshold for filing in this case. The AMO investigated first whether the thresholds had been exceeded and if the AMO was able to investigate the transaction in accordance with the EU Court of Justice Towercast judgment (under which competition agencies can investigate sub-threshold merges under abuse of dominant rules). The AMO concluded the thresholds had not been exceeded and that this case was not suitable to apply the Towercast judgement, as Penta didn’t have a dominant market position at the time the acquisition took place, and thus the acquisition could not have been an abuse of dominance. The AMO announced that it would also open a wider discussion about the jurisdictional boundaries and propose a legislative amendment to the Competition Act. The AMO will likely conclude multiple high-profile investigations into cartels, especially in the healthcare sector. The authority will also be issuing its first decision regarding competition on labor markets. According to the public statements of the AMO’s representative, the authority intends to maintain — or intensify– its enforcement activity across the entire spectrum. The Slovak Competition Law may be in for another exciting year in 2025.
