Translated using ChatGPT service.
On June 11 of this year, the Cabinet of Ministers approved amendments to the Competition Law prepared by the Ministry of Economics. These amendments aim to encourage more active involvement of public purchasers in recovering damages incurred in organized procurements due to competition law violations by market participants.
With these amendments, the Competition Council (CC) has been assigned a new function – to provide methodological support to public purchasers in identifying, evaluating, and calculating damages resulting from competition law infringements. The amendment stipulates that the CC will offer consultations to public purchasers on damage assessment calculations and methods, as well as support in calculating damages for submitting claims to the court.
Additionally, the law includes specific conditions for implementing this new function, separating it from the investigation of competition law violations within the administrative process to avoid conflicts of interest. This means that the new CC unit will analyze only the information submitted by the public purchaser, and its opinions, calculations, and consultations will be advisory. It is also specified that the Chairman of the Competition Council will exercise institutional supervision over the new unit, without participating in the provision and substance of the opinions.
To promote more active involvement of public purchasers in recovering damages incurred in organized procurements due to competition law violations by market participants, as well as to offer appropriate support instruments, the Ministry of Economics developed and presented an informational report to the Cabinet of Ministers on January 9 of this year. The report, titled “On Measures to Promote More Active Involvement of Public Purchasers in Recovering Damages Incurred in Organized Procurements Due to Competition Law Violations by Market Participants,” was supported by the Cabinet. Consequently, the Ministry of Economics, in collaboration with the Competition Council, was tasked with preparing amendments to the Competition Law, establishing the CC's new function – providing methodological support to public purchasers for identifying damages resulting from competition infringements, including regulating the collaboration, responsibilities, and obligations between the public purchaser and the CC in the damage recovery process.
Details of the amendments to the Competition Law can be found on the Legal Acts Portal. The amendments still need to be approved by the Saeima.