MERGER AND ACQUISITION CONTROL OF ALBANIAN COMPETITION AUTHORITY
Abstract
Albanian Law no. 9121 dated 28.7.2003 "On Protection of Competition"[1] has established the institution responsible for the protection of competition, which is the Competition Authority, It is a permanent collegial body that bases its work on three main pillars, which are: [2]
- Prohibited agreements (cartels);
- Abuse of dominant position;
- Mergers or acquisitions of enterprises;
Other competencies include consumer protection as well as the assessment of various normative acts that may affect competition. This institution consists of the Competition Commission and the Secretariat. In the EU, merger and acquisitions are not regulated by EU primary law, but by secondary law, and in particular by the Merger Control Regulation No. 139/2004[3] which provides for the control of the competition of mergers of enterprises if they are of great importance to the EU and Regulation No. 1/2003, which regulates the use and application of EU cartel law. [4] The Albanian Law “On Protection of Competition” includes both EU Regulations in Articles 10-17 (Papajorgji, 2016). In this sense main objective of this manuscript is the analysis of merger and acquisition control of undertakings in Albanian competitition law based in judicial practice.
Keywords: Merger, Acquisition, Albania, EU, Competition Law.
[1] This law was amended in 2006 and 2010.
[2] Albania has unified its competition practice with EU’s practice and especially with Articles 101, 102, 107 of the Lisbon Treaty.
[3]Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings.
[4] Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the EU Treaty.
