International workshop dedicated to state aid, leniency policy and communication held in Chisinau, between 23-25 May 2023

Between May 23-25, 2023, the Competition Council of the Republic of Moldova hosted a large-scale event: "Workshop dedicated to State Aid, Whistleblowing & Leniency and Communication". The event brought together specialists and experts from the Republic of Moldova, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Hungary under its auspices.

The Workshop agenda included a series of discussion panels and exchange of experience within the participants discussed the best European practices and shared their knowledge and experience in the field of State Aid, Whistleblowing & Leniency programme, but also Advocacy and Communication.

Thus, the colleagues from the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Ukraine addressed topics regarding the notion of state aid, the implementation of primary and secondary legislation, de minimis aid, state aid in the transport field (aviation, ports, road and railway), the steel industry, etc.  They shared the experience of the EU states and presented case studies on Free Economic Zones, and the alignment of state aid schemes with the EU acquis, the state aid recovery process and cooperation with grantors.

During the Whistleblowing & Leniency programme working panel, the participants discussed aspects related to the legal framework for applying leniency policies in the Republic of Moldova, Lithuania, Hungary and Romania, analyzing case studies and the experience of each state in this regard. At the same time, the experts presented the Whistleblowing national programme, a tool that offers the possibility to anonymously report the Competition Law infrigements, thus contributing to the protection of competition.

Advocacy actions, especially in the field of state aid, and competition authorities' communication strategies were topics of major interest during the Workshop. Thus, the experts presented the strategies addressed and the actions taken in order to make the process of informing society more efficient with reference to the topics of interest. The communication tools used, social media platforms, case studies and success stories following the implementation of the communication campaigns of Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Ukraine were presented.

The event was organized by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection of Poland, jointly with the Competition Council of the Republic of Moldova, in the context of the activities provided by the regional cooperation platform in the field of competition, following the signing in April 2023 of the Multilateral Collaboration Memorandum between the competition authorities from the region.

The workshop was held in a hybrid format, so the event was joined by representatives of the competition authorities of Armenia and Georgia, who expressed their interest in the activities of the cooperation platform and the opportunity to participate in the exchange of experience and practices in the field of competition and state aid.

In 2023, more activities are expected within the framework of the regional cooperation platform, including another workshop in June, which will be attended by several experts in the field of competition from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.