EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

Prague, Czechia

it fall into the main criteria under antitrust assessment business cooperation in response to situations of urgency stemming from the current COVID-19 outbreak (Communication from the Commission, 2020). We cannot apply the exception from the general prohibition of state aid under Art. 107 (2) and Art. 107 (3), because usually, they have forms different from exclusive rights such as, for example, a direct grant, subsidy, repayable advances, guarantee, exemption from income taxes, etc. in the framework of ad hoc aid, individual aid, scheme. Besides, usually, they may be allowed based on the decision of the Commission according to certain decision-making processes. If granting state aid occurs without the Commission’s decision, usually this is small state aid amounts. Furthermore, the analysed actions violate the internal Czech national law, specifically exactly Article 19a (1) of Act on the Protection of Competition (Act No. 143/2001), which stipulates that a public authority exercising its public powers must not distort competition without justifiable reasons, by (a) favours to a particular competitor or group of competitors; (b) excluding a particular competitor or group of competitors from the competition, or (c) eliminating competition on the relevant market. We must therefore assess if any other options were available to avoid creating a monopoly under the pretence of protecting the consumer. 3.4 Alternative solutions Regarding debts of commercial insurance companies to medical service providers: 1) if an insurance company violated the law, the Czech National Bank could have revoked its insurance permits in this segment; 2) it is also possible to protect the interests of medical institutions through the court. The monopoly of PVZP does not solve the issue of revoking insurance permits and does not protect the interests of either clients or medical institutions. As an option, the Czech government could have increased the liability of insurance companies. For example, they could have established a condition on the confirmation of the ability to ensure payment for medical services by all private insurance companies providing comprehensive medical insurance for foreigners, with a suitable waiting period for its implementation. If a private insurance company did not fulfil solvency capital requirements, this situation would be solved by the Czech National Bank. Also, to avoid situations with no payment, they could have improved contract regulation (WHO, 2016, p. 85) or determined a reasonable level of administrative costs like in Belgium and Germany (WHO, 2016, p. 83). Various new alternative solutions were presented in December 2021, when, against the background of a complaint filed, the Senate decided to consider the abolition of the monopoly. The proposal envisages the establishment of a register

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