Half-Year Competition Update – Western Balkans: Serbia And Montenegro

July 2026 – The first half of 2026 brought two important competition-related developments in Serbia and Montenegro. In Serbia, a new unfair trading practices regime started to apply to buyer-supplier relationships in strategically important supply chains, giving the Serbian Competition Authority a new enforcement role beyond traditional antitrust and merger control. In Montenegro, the new Competition Act has modernised the merger control, restrictive agreements, and enforcement framework, bringing it closer to EU competition law standards.

Serbia: Unfair trading practices in selected supply chains

The Law on Trading Practices for Certain Types of Products (the “UTPL”) entered into force on 1 May 2026. The UTPL applies to commercial relations between suppliers and buyers engaged in trade within the territory of the Republic of Serbia. It is not aimed at consumer-facing relationships, but at professional trading relationships in selected supply chains.

Scope of application

The UTPL applies only where the buyer has significant bargaining power over the supplier. In practice, this is assessed primarily by comparing the buyer’s and supplier’s annual turnover generated in Serbia. The UTPL presumes significant bargaining power where the buyer’s turnover is higher than the statutory threshold corresponding to the supplier’s turnover category.

From a product perspective, the UTPL covers: (i) agricultural and food products, including perishable agricultural and food products, and (ii) products of particular importance for market supply. The second category includes products such as household chemicals, paper and kitchen products, personal hygiene and cosmetics, and diapers, as well as products important for agricultural production, including plant nutrition and plant protection products and soil improvers.

In broad terms, suppliers include agricultural producers and producers, importers, or distributors of covered products, while buyers are legal persons or entrepreneurs purchasing such products for resale, processing, or distribution.

The government’s decision on the list of agricultural and food products and products of particular importance for market supply (the “Decision”) entered into force on 13 June 2026. In practical terms, the Decision identifies the covered products and distinguishes perishable agricultural and food products from other products, which is relevant for the application of the specific payment deadlines and order-cancellation rules.

Prohibited clauses and unfair trading practices

The UTPL expressly prohibits the use of vague, indeterminate, or conditional contractual clauses in agreements between buyers and suppliers and introduces a general obligation that such agreements be concluded in written form.

The UTPL distinguishes between two categories of unfair trading practices. Black-list practices are prohibited in all circumstances, regardless of any justification, agreement between the parties, or surrounding context. These include, among others, excessive payment periods, short-notice cancellation of orders for perishable agricultural and food products; unilateral amendments to key contractual terms; unjustified supplier payments; refusal to confirm agreed contractual terms in writing; and unlawful acquisition, use, or disclosure of the supplier’s business secrets.

Grey-list practices are presumed to be unfair unless proven otherwise. These include certain payments or charges imposed on suppliers, such as payments for storage, listing, display, advertising, promotions, or sales data, as well as the return of unsold products without payment, unjustified reductions of orders, subsequent bonuses, or other payments requested during the performance of the contract, and non-cash compensation.

Commercial retaliation is also expressly prohibited. This includes delisting products, reducing or delaying orders, suspending promotional support, threatening suppliers or otherwise disadvantaging them because they exercise contractual or statutory rights.

The Serbian Competition Authority also adopted the Guidance on Further Regulation of Unfair Trading Practices (the “Guidance”), in force as of 4 July 2026. The Guidance further explains how the Serbian Competition Authority will assess black-list practices, grey-list practices, and commercial retaliation in practice. In particular, it provides additional clarification on payment deadlines, cancellation of orders for perishable products, unilateral amendments of contractual terms, and the circumstances relevant for establishing retaliation.

New enforcement role of the Serbian Competition Authority

The UTPL gives the Serbian Competition Authority a new enforcement role outside its traditional competition law mandate. In addition to its existing powers, the Serbian Competition Authority is now responsible for investigating unfair trading practices, imposing administrative measures, monitoring compliance, and keeping records of buyers that have engaged in such practices.

Proceedings may be initiated ex officio, while any person may submit an initiative describing the alleged infringement. If the Serbian Competition Authority establishes the existence of prohibited trading practices, it may impose measures proportional to the scope and duration of the infringement. These include interim measures and compliance measures, such as requiring the buyer to temporarily cease the suspected practice or to align its general terms and conditions, standard contracts, or specific contractual provisions with the UTPL. The UTPL also provides for monetary measures calculated as 0.1% or 0.2%, depending on the infringement, of the buyer’s total annual turnover generated in Serbia in the year preceding the initiation of proceedings, subject to adjustment based on mitigating or aggravating circumstances. Buyers may also be subject to procedural penalties, including daily fines, for failure to comply with the Serbian Competition Authority’s requests or orders.

Montenegro: New Competition Act brings faster merger review and EU-style self-assessment

The new Law on Protection of Competition (“Montenegrin Competition Act”) entered into force on 2 April 2026. It introduces a broader update of the Montenegrin competition framework, with changes affecting merger control, restrictive agreements, enforcement powers, transparency, and alignment with EU competition rules.

Merger control update

The most immediate practical changes concern merger control. The previous fixed 15-day deadline for submitting a merger notification has been removed. Notifiable concentrations must still be notified after the relevant triggering event, but there is no longer a separate statutory 15-day filing window. At the same time, the standstill obligation remains in place, meaning that transactions cannot be implemented before clearance is obtained.

The Montenegrin Competition Act also shortens review timelines. Phase I proceedings should be completed within 30 calendar days from confirmation that the notification is complete. If an in-depth Phase II review is opened, it must be completed within four months. In straightforward cases, this should make deal timetables more predictable, although parties should still allow sufficient time for information gathering and pre-filing analysis.

Self-assessment for restrictive agreements

Another major change is the move from an approval-based individual exemption system to self-assessment. Parties must now assess internally whether restrictive agreements satisfy the exemption criteria, without relying on a prior formal approval mechanism. This is more consistent with the EU model, but it also increases the importance of careful documentation of the legal and economic justification for cooperation arrangements.

Fines and investigative powers

The Montenegrin Competition Act also clarifies the sanctioning framework for prohibited concentrations. Fines for implementing prohibited concentrations may reach up to 10% of an undertaking’s total worldwide turnover.

Three changes are particularly relevant. First, the previous minimum fine threshold of 1% has been removed, giving the Montenegrin Competition Authority more flexibility when determining the appropriate sanction. Second, the relevant turnover is now assessed by reference to the financial year preceding the issuance of the Montenegrin Competition Authority’s decision, rather than the financial year preceding the infringement. This may result in a higher fine base where the undertaking’s turnover has increased in the meantime. Third, the Montenegrin Competition Act expressly confirms that fines are calculated on the basis of worldwide turnover.

A notable change concerns gun jumping. Parties to a concentration that fail to suspend implementation until clearance is obtained may now face a separate fine of up to 1% of their total worldwide turnover, in addition to the existing fining framework of up to 10% of worldwide turnover for prohibited concentrations.

The Montenegrin Competition Authority’s investigative powers have also been expanded and it may now conduct inspections of private premises, subject to prior court approval.

Implementing regulations

Following the adoption of the Montenegrin Competition Act, several implementing regulations have been issued. These include regulations on group exemptions for technology transfer agreements, horizontal specialisation agreements, and agreements concerning the distribution of spare parts and servicing of motor vehicles, as well as a regulation on the list of competition rules.

These implementing acts are relevant for self-assessment, as they set specific conditions under which certain types of agreements may benefit from a group exemption. The new framework also increases transparency by requiring the publication of full non-confidential versions of decisions, rather than only operative parts.