Georgian National Competition Agency is holding an event dedicating World Competition Day, which is celebrated this year under the topic “Competition Policy for an Inclusive and Sustainable Economy.”
The meeting was opened by the Chairman of the National Competition Agency, Irakli Lekvinadze, who congratulated the participants the World Competition Day, introduced information about the activities of the Agency in 2014-2021 and the results obtained. "Since the reestablishing of the Competition Agency in 2014-2021 - 16 markets have been monitored, and 35 cases have been investigated. 15 consents have been issued on the concentration of undertakings. Currently, 2 markets are under monitoring and 5 cases under investigation. Among them 3 with other regulators. A total of 75 recommendations were issued, including 56 to state agencies.
In 16 cases, fines of up to GEL 3 million were paid by economic agents for various violations. During the same period, 9 litigations were completed and the decisions of the Agency entered into force. Currently, there are 16 cases in different instances. Amendments to the competition law, anti-dumping legislation, and procurement law are adopted. The law on Consumer Rights Protection will be adopted shortly, which will be executed by the Competition Agency“-Said the Chairman of the Georgian National Competition Agency, Irakli Lekvinadze.
Welcome speeches were presented for the event by: Davit Songulashvili - The Chair of the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee, Parliament of Georgia; Koba Gvenetadze, Prezident of the National Bank of Georgia Davit Narmania, Chairman of the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission (GNERC); Davit Onoprishvili – Chairman, Insurance State Supervision Service; Vakhtang Abashidze - Member of the Georgian National Communications Commission; Jolanta Taczynska- Head of Project - Facility for the Implementation of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement.
In the frame of the updated legislation and celebrating World Competition Day for enforcing competition policy effectively and strengthening cooperation, the heads of all five regulatory Agencies have signed a cooperation document. The purpose of the agreement is to jointly organize the annual Competition Conference, where the Agencies will discuss and evaluate the work conducted, the results achieved, and the challenges during the year.
The event has been participated virtually by - Teresa Moreira - Head of the Competition and Consumer Policies Branch of UNCTAD and Renato Ferrandi- Head of the Regional Competition Center of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD).
The event is attended by: members of the governmental and parliamentary team, experts, representatives of partner agencies, local and international organizations, diplomatic corps, business sector, the academic community, and civil society.
World Competition Day has been celebrated on December 5 in more than 30 countries since 2010 and is associated with the control of restrictive business practices, United Nations multilateral principles, and rules.
