Competition Law in Post-Central Planning Bulgaria

This paper investigates the activities of the Bulgarian competition office, the Commission for the Protection of Competition, during 1991–5. Descriptive statistics are provided on the industry incidence of investigations, the types of behaviour that were investigated, and the frequency with which violations were found and penalties imposed. Although the Commission has attempted to concentrate its efforts in non-tradable sectors and target both cartel and abuse of dominance cases, the remedies that are imposed appear rather ineffective. Moreover, instead of hard core anti-competitive behaviour, much of the Commission’s activities have centred on ‘unfair’ competition (e.g. false advertising, trademark infringement, and the behaviour of ex-employees of specific enterprises). Recently proposed amendments to the law should go some way towards allowing the Commission to focus more narrowly on anti-competitive practices and to strengthen the deterrent effect of the law.