The Serbian NCA – Commission for Protection of Competition – has continued with its recent hyperactivity. This time, it has started an investigation against four pharmaceutical wholesalers, for alleged bid rigging.
According to a statement published on the NCA’s website, the investigation was launched against four companies: Farmix, Beohem-3, Makler, and Pharmaswiss. Allegedly, the companies had been agreeing the terms of their bids in public tenders for the procurement of medicines for treatment of hemophilia between 2014 and 2017.
Suspecting that there was a danger of removal or alteration of evidence, the NCA raided the business premises of the four companies involved. During the raids, the NCA inter alia inspected the parties’ electronic devices on which information relevant for the investigation could be stored.
The news of the latest investigation and dawn raids comes just a few days after the NCA announced it has started proceedings against 172 undertakings active on the market for the supply of baby equipment. As we reported recently, the NCA has also launched an antitrust probe against Mastercard, for alleged fixing of interchange fees in Serbia.
With so many new proceedings, it remains to be seen whether the Serbian NCA will focus on closing the pending investigations or whether more new probes are on the cards.