Addressing Unfair Trading Practices in Bulgaria
The Government of Bulgaria (GoB) is concerned that large retail chains may be using their superior bargaining position to dictate the terms of contractual relations with their suppliers. The Government believes that this constitutes unfair trading...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/04/19457582/addressing-unfair-trading-practices-bulgaria-competition-knowledge-advisory-services-program http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19049 |
| Summary: | The Government of Bulgaria (GoB) is
concerned that large retail chains may be using their
superior bargaining position to dictate the terms of
contractual relations with their suppliers. The Government
believes that this constitutes unfair trading practices
(UTP) and remedies should be found in the nation's
competition policy framework. The GoB is considering the
introduction of the concept of significant market power
(SMP) into the competition legislation. To address the UTP
issues in business to business (B2B) relations in the buyer
supplier relations, the Minister of Finance of the GoB asked
the World Bank in end-October 2013 for technical support in
the area of competition. In November 2013, the task was
further specified and the GoB asked the World Bank to
explore how and whether the SMP concept, anchored in the
competition policy framework, will effectively address UTP
in B2B relations. The World Bank organized a technical
workshop, titled significant market power and unfair trading
practices: issues and challenges in collaboration with the
office of the Deputy Prime Minister for economic development
and the Bulgarian commission for protection of competition.
The workshop presented the mixed success of international
practices in addressing unfair trading practices. The World
Bank analyzed European Union (EU) member state policies in
addressing unfair trading practices against the following
criteria: effectiveness, alignment with economic principles,
adaptability, efficiency and timeliness, and analytically
based, dependent, transparent, contestable, and reversible
practice with due process. Additionally, the World Bank
provided an economic assessment of how implementable and
effective the significant market power will be to address
unfair trading practices using competition policy. This
assessment is based on the economic principles provided by
the European commission guidelines, that is, take corrective
action when abusive behavior harms consumers, not competitors. |
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