COMPETITION and COMPETITIVENESS DAYS in ROMANIA

“Competition, Competitiveness and Consumers within the new European Single Market”

Bucharest, 3- 4 November 2005

 with the support of

H.H. Prince Radu Hohenzollern de Veringen,

Special Representative of the Romanian Government for Integration,

Co-operation and Sustainable Development

Official Partners:

COMPETITION COUNCIL in ROMANIA

CHAMBER of COMMERCE and INDUSTRY of ROMANIA

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of INTERNET SERVICES PROVIDERS

CAMERA NATIONALA a CONSILIERILOR in PROPRIETATE INDUSTRIALA

COMISIA pentru MUNCA si PROTECTIE SOCIALA a CAMEREI DEPUTATILOR 

and from the business community:

PHILIP MORRIS ROMANIA

 Members of the Organising Consortium

British-Romanian Chamber of Commerce

Romanian Union of the Liberal Professions

SCPA Hahui & Associates

Association of Consultants in Competition and for the Promotion of the Competition Culture

SCPA Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen 

Short description

There are two events dedicated to the European Competition Day annually organized by the Members States that hold the Presidency of the European Union. For the first time in Romania, we aim to celebrate a Romanian edition of the European Day of Competition and Competitiveness.

This two-days event is organised with the kind support of H.H. Prince Radu Hohenzollern de Veringen,

Special Representative of the Romanian Government for Integration, Co-operation and Sustainable Development.

We designed the event as a combination of, on the one hand, specialised debates, information and training thematic workshops, and on the other hand, of public activities devoted to promote a competition culture in Romania and the whole region advocate for a fair and transparent competition within the new Member and Candidate States: the Competition Fair and the Essay Student Contest on Competitiveness of Romanian products and services.

Main target-groups

• Romanian and Central-European members, Official and Associated Partners of the CEFTAC Platform network;

• representatives of social-economic Interest Groups, organized within chambers of commerce, professional associations and employers confederations, represented with the Romanian Economic ans Social Council;

• members and beneficiaries of the associations for the protection of the consumers’, environment and citizens’ rights;

• experts and practitioners in the field of competition, management and investors in Romania, working within international and joint-ventures companies;

• young people, between 23-35 years old, involved in private entrepreneurial activities.

Project Activities

The event is structured as follows:

• General Debate with the title “Competition, Competitiveness and Consumers on the New Single European Market”, moderated and animated by independent experts and academic personalities from EU and Romania, on the role and the consequences of a compelling observance of the judicial regime and the managerial accommodation to the European standards and practices in the field;

• The Competition Fair: the representatives of the Romanian firms will be able to receive information and practical recommendations of the part of the regulating authorities, the law firms, the Council of Foreign Investors, and other economic and social organisations, represented in Romania, in the field of preparations for the integration on the European Single Market.

• Thematic Workshops, on the following themes:                                                      See the AGENDA   

• Role and the Limits of the Competition in Liberal Professions;

• Regime of State Aids and the New Orientations after the Accession to the European Union;

• Protection of consumers  as a Final Result of a Fair and Transparent Competition;

• Competition and Competitiveness in the Romanian MotoCars Industry.

• Essay Contest opened to students and young graduates on the topic: “How can the Romanian services and products become more competitive in regional and European context”. The awards will consist in internships within the project’s partner companies and a visit at the institutions that deal with the Single European Market issues;

• Ceremony of awarding the annual distinctions of EUROLINK-House of Europe: “Personality of the Year for a European Romania”, followed by a Reception in the honor of the guests and the participants.

Materials offered to participants

• Booklets - presenting the European Commission’s Opinion regarding the link between competition and the protection of consumers’ rights, as well as the consequences of the implementation of the European acquis in the field of competition for the improvement of the services quality – especially the services provided by the liberal professionals – and the increasing the competitiveness on the Single European Market, in view of the accession process;

• Documentation materials for the files of participants – bibliographical materials and the description of the project partners;

• The Competition Fair Catalogue – description of portofolio of the participating organisations/companies in the field of competition law, consulting and of other interested companies/organizations;

• The White Paper on a Fair and Transparent Competition – set of recommendations and measures proposed by the guests lecturers, moderators and participants within the General Debate and the Thematic Workshops.

Project Results

a)    contribute substantially to the awareness of the consumers and of the wide public of the relation between the benefits, the costs and the new responsibilities related to the integration process of the Candidate and new Member States economies within the Single European Market;

b)    stimulate the public debate about the strategies and the priorities to improve the general performance of the economic branches that have a real growing potential in the new economic and social context created by the accession process;

c)    encourage the young professionals, experts, managers and entrepreneurs to involve themselves effectively in the change of mentalities process and to generate a new environment through the promotion of the European competition principles;

d)    stimulate an enthusiastic and confident climate about the opportunities that might appear by Romania’s recordation to the practices and the rules of the Single European Market and the benefits of the integration process in general.