The Lithuanian Free Market Institute has examined draft amendments to Article 3 of the Law on Competition and submitted its remarks and proposals to relative legislative bodies.
The amendments are aimed at establishing legal rules whereby a bank would be considered to occupy a dominant market position if its market share is 30 percent or higher. The explanatory note of the proposal states that certain actions and measures should be taken in order to ensure sustainable competitive conditions for presumably monopolistic commercial banks in Lithuania. However, drafters of the law indicate that the market share of different banks varies from 16 to 28 percent. Therefore, the so-called “monopolistic situation” has no economic basis. Moreover, it should be noted that there is no objective data that allows accurate calculation of market shares.
In the light of the aforesaid arguments LFMI calls for the rejection of the amendments.
The full position paper (in Lithuanian) is available at http://www.llri.lt/naujienos/ekonomine-politika/ekspertize-konkurencijos-istatymo-pakeitimai-uzkirs-kelia-bankininkystei/dominykas
