The Czech Competition Act has been amended to expand the powers
of the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition
("Office") in detecting and suppressing anticompetitive
conduct. Effective from 29 July 2023, the amendment brings
significant changes to the Leniency Programme, investigations at
business premises, the offering of commitments, discounts on fines,
using telecommunication interceptions as evidence and more. Two
significant decisions have also been issued by the Office. We have
set out our key takeaways below.
Leniency Program and Anonymisation of Notifiers
Since the fines imposed for anticompetitive conduct often reach
staggering heights, competitors should be mindful of changes to
instruments enabling their reduction or complete remission. The
Leniency Programme, allowing parties to prohibited agreements to
avoid fines at least partially in exchange for evidence of the
existence of a secret prohibited agreement, has so far only applied
to
