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Competition pressure in market economy is one of the essential mechanisms of effectively working market. Consumer is the one who at most benefits from properly working market and from competition. If the entrepreneurs at the market work under the competition pressure, they are naturally motivated to improve the efficiency of production and distribution, to decrease prices, improve quality and to innovate their products. Afterwards the consumer acquires the best result comparing the quality and price of products and services.

 

Competition is a tool to deal with the market failures coming out from the lack of rivalry. The aim of competition protection policy is to protect competition and to contribute to the development of competition conditions. Competition policy is also the tool to create the surroundings attractive for the investments and for the increase of jobs, so it may ensure the sustainable increase and ability to compete of the economy in the long term. Rivalry becomes effective when the independent subjects act in the markets and each of them is faced to the competition pressure from the side of the others.

 

The Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic as a central state administration body has been established in 1990. Its role is to intervene against competition restriction by the entrepreneurs – against agreements restricting competition, abuse of a dominant position and to take preventive control over the market structures through the assessment of concentrations. The Office may sanction also the conduct of other state authorities or municipality bodies when distorting the competition conditions.

 

The work of the Office is of the expert-analytical nature, followed by the issuing of the decision. The Office’s interventions should sensitively fine-tune the operation of market mechanism.

 

Accessing the European Union the European dimension of competition legislation application in the Slovak Republic has been strengthened and the Antimonopoly Office of SR becomes the part of the structure of European competition authorities.  

 

Competition is one of the key areas with the European Union. Effective competition is quite important for the working of common European market, above all for the free flow of products, jobs, services and capital. European Commission decides on cases identical with the areas of responsibilities of the Antimonopoly Office of SR (concentrations, agreements restricting competition, abuse of a dominant position), however Commission decides only on those cases which have the impact on the trade among the member states. Commission may decide also on the cases which should be assessed by several antimonopoly institutions. The aim of such a procedure is to increase the efficiency of the decision-making process and to assess the impact on the common market on a higher level.