The Georgian Competition and Consumer Agency’s (GCCA) Chairman Irakli Lekvinadze delivered a speech at the 22st session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy, in Geneva, Switzerland. He was invited by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for this event.
In his speech, Irakli Lekvinadze discussed the reforms implemented to strengthen competition policy in Georgia. He highlighted achievements and focused on completed cases in the past year.
"GCCA is ten years old and has undergone several stages of development. In 2020, significant changes were made to the competition legislation in order to harmonize it with European legislation. From 2021-2022, we implement anti-dumping and consumer protection laws. The compliance with EU legislation is continually being assessed. According to EU experts, the compliance of competition legislation with European legislation exceeds 75%, which in 2022 was 60%. We have accepted the recommendations and are determining the next measures to achieve full compliance with European legislation.
Between 2020 and 2024, GCCA made significant decisions and completed 20 investigations. Among them, the concerted practices were confirmed: in the pharmacy, fuel market, and in the online sales market of cinema tickets”-Irakli Lekvinadze said in his speech.
According to him, monitoring of eleven markets was completed between 2020 and 2024. The most significant results were in the pharmaceutical, bank insurance, fuel, and other markets. Most of the 13 recommendations given to the pharmaceutical market have been implemented by the Government.
