Robert Pelikán is a partner with Wolf Theiss, based in their Prague office, where he has developed extensive experience in corporate law, litigation, arbitration and all aspects of national (Czech and Slovak) as well EU competition law, including merger control, antitrust, cartel investigations and abuse of dominant positions. In the course of his career, he regularly advises notable and prestigious clients, both from the Czech Republic and abroad, in high-profile complex litigation and competition cases, which has gained him an excellent reputation a local experts in these practice areas. Robert graduated from Charles University, Faculty of Law, and has since worked at several prestigious law firms and became a partner of a Czech law firm. From 2015 to 2018, he served as the Minister of Justice of the Czech Republic. Robert has always been active in academia and co-authored the Commentary to the Civil Code (2014) and a textbook on corporate law (Corporate Law, 2015). He also teaches corporate and competition law at the Charles University, Faculty of Law and is a member of the Legislation Council of the Government of the Czech Republic.
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By its decision of 19 November 2012, the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition fined four companies for their participation in agreements aimed at market sharing on the waste management market and, for two of the participants, on the road maintenance market. According to the Office, (...)
977
In a first-instance decision of 13 September 2010, the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition concluded that from 1998 to 2006, Samsung SDI, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Koninklijke Philips Electronics, Technicolor, Panasonic, Toshiba and LG Electronics formed a prohibited cartel in the (...)
1006
By its judgement of 26 April 2010, the Czech Supreme Administrative Court confirmed a previous decision of the Regional Court in Brno, upholding a decision of the Office for the Protection of Competition in the ČSAD Liberec case. In 2005, ČSAD Liberec (“ČSAD”), the operator of the bus (...)
1662
On 24 June 2009, the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition entered into a settlement with RWE Transgas (“RWE”), the dominant Czech operator in the natural gas market, concerning RWE’s conduct towards its retail customers in late 2008 and in the first half of 2009. In September 2008, (...)
1513
On 15 May 2009, the Czech Chamber of Deputies voted in favour of a bill “on significant market power and the abuse thereof”. According to the voted text, “where, due to the situation on the market, a supplier becomes dependent on the buyer with respect to the possibility to deliver its goods (...)
2198
After 11 November 2008, it appears that the managers of cartel members will have to add Prague to the growing list of “Airports to Avoid”. In fact, on that day, the Czech Chamber of Deputies adopted a new Criminal Code which, among other things, introduces the criminal offence of “breach of (...)
3100
By its decision of 20 November 2008, the Czech Supreme Administrative Court confirmed the decision of the Regional Court of Brno and hence the decisions of the Office for the Protection of Competition by which Sazka, the dominant Czech operator of betting games and lotteries, was found guilty (...)
2427
By a first-instance decision adopted on 16 July 2008, the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition fined Èeské Dráhy, the incumbent railway operator, CZK 270 million (approx. EUR 11 million) for an abuse of dominant position under the relevant Czech legislation. In its decision, the (...)
3464
In May 2008, the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition circulated a draft amendment to the Czech Act on the Protection of Competition, requesting for comments by the different authorities involved and the interested public prior to the introduction of the bill in the Parliament. The (...)
3605
On 18 February 2008, the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition announced via a press release that it terminated its investigation of the increase of fees collected by CCS, the principal issuer of fuel cards in the Czech Republic, from the merchants which operate its point-of-sale (...)
2831
On 23 November 2007, the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition fined VAVRYS CZ, a minor outdoor clothing and equipment distributor, CZK 100.000 (approx. 3.700 €) for ignoring a request for information. Although the sum is insignificant in itself, the measure is somewhat revolutionary (...)
3020
On 8 August 2007, the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition terminated the proceedings in the Tipsport case, initiated in 2006, without adopting a final verdict. The case concerned an agreement entered into by Tipsport, a major Czech betting company, and Ceskoslovensky Sport (CS (...)
2877
By a judgment rendered on 10 July 2007, the Regional Court in Brno annulled the first-instance and appeal decisions rendered by the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition and its President in the Linde Technoplyn case. Unfortunately for the commentators, the verdict is based solely (...)
3785
Presumably on 9 May 2007 (see below), the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition published its first guidelines on the method of setting fines on its website. Whereas it has been known for some time that some kind of guidelines were used by the Office to calculate fines, the latter (...)
3952
By a judgment rendered on 31 January 2007, the Czech Supreme Administrative Court overruled an earlier judgment by the Regional Court in Brno and stated that the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition (the “Office”) has competence to investigate into and impose sanctions for (...)
3075
By a judgement of 26 September 2006, the Regional Court in Brno confirmed the decisions adopted by the Office for the Protection of Competition and (on administrative appeal) by its President in which the dominant fixed telephony operator, Èeský Telecom (“ÈTc”), was found to have infringed (...)
3277
By a first-instance decision rendered on 10 August, 2006, the Office for the Protection of Competition (the “Office”) imposed a fine of CZK 370 million (EUR 13 million approx.) on RWE Transgas, the dominant supplier of natural gas to the retail distributors, for alleged abuses of its dominant (...)
2601
In August 2006, the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition presented to the interested public a draft amendment to the Czech Act on the Protection of Competition. Apart from other less important issues, the draft provides specific rules on the treatment of documents obtained by the (...)
2653
The Regional Court in Brno has rejected the appeal against the decision of the Office for the Protection of Competition (the “Office”) in which the latter stated that a regulation on services and fees, adopted and published by the Czech Chamber of Chartered Engineers and Technicians of the (...)
6755
On 14 April 2006, the President of the Office for the Protection of Competition confirmed a first-instance decision by which the Office had imposed a fine of CZK 300,000 (EUR 10,500 approx.) on the Czech Chamber of Pharmacists (Ceská lékárnická komora) for the adoption of several (...)
3692
By a decision on appeal rendered on 17 March, 2006, the President of the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition has confirmed a first instance decision according to which Ceský Telecom, a.s. (“CTc”), the incumbent Czech telecommunications operator, had abused of its dominant position (...)
4041
By a decision on appeal rendered on 3 February, 2006, the President of the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition has annulled a first instance decision according to which ŠKODA AUTO a.s. (“Škoda”), a Czech car manufacturer belonging to the Volkswagen group, had allegedly abused of its (...)
3649
By a decision rendered on 13 December, 2005, the President of the Office has confirmed a first instance decision according to which Technické služby Prostejov (“TSP”), a city-owned company charged inter alia with the operation and maintenance of the municipal cemetery in the city of Prostejov, (...)
3722
In a decision rendered on 25 November, 2005, the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition concluded that CAS-SERVICE a.s. (“CAS”), the operator of the bus station in the Southern Moravian city of Znojmo, had not abused of its dominant position on the market of services offered to bus (...)
2558
On 6 August 2005 the Regional Court in Brno delivered a decision whereby it affirmed an earlier decision by the Office for the Protection of Competition, in which the Office had found that the provision of the Veterinary Chamber’s professional code of conduct which prohibits veterinary doctors (...)
6960
On 20 July 2005 the Chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition confirmed a first-instance decision whereby Sazka (the dominant Czech operator of betting games and lotteries) had been found guilty of abusing its dominant position. At the same time, the Chairman reduced the fine (...)
5513
On 6 June 2005 the Czech Republic’s Office for the Protection of Competition (“the Office”) issued a decision whereby it established that a bus service and station operator in a Czech city abused its dominant position when it refused to allow a competing carrier to use its bus station for (...)
3893
The Office for Protection of Competition of the Czech Republic (“the Office”) confirmed, on appeal, its previous decision in which it found that “Skiareal Spindleruv Mlyn, a.s.” (“Skiareal”), the operator of a major Czech winter sport centre, had abused its dominant position by applying (...)
8018
The Office for the protection of competition of the Czech Republic confirmed on March 25, 2005 its earlier first instance decision, in which it has found that the agreements concluded by Èeský Telecom with two suppliers of ADSL modems represent a prohibited price fixing agreement as they bind (...)
3165
In its decision of 18 February 2005, the Regional Court in Brno quashed an earlier decision of the Office for the Protection of Competition, in which the Office found that Česká rafinérská, a.s. (the most important oil refinery in the Czech Republic) had abused its dominant position when “for (...)
4423
The Hungarian Competition Council initiated proceedings against T-Mobile in order to find out whether it had violated Article 8 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Hungarian Competition Act and Article 7 paragraphs (2) (b) of the Hungarian Act on Business Advertising Activity, through advertising the (...)
3882
On 21 December 2004 the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic issued a decision whereby it affirmed the earlier decision of the Office for the Protection of Competition, in which the Office had found that Eurotel, a Czech mobile operator, had abused its dominant position on the (...)
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The decision of the Ministry for Competition (the predecessor of the Czech NCA) in the Škoda Auto case, confirmed on constitutional complaint by the Constitutional Court in its judgement rendered on 29 May 1997, is one of the oldest and at the same time most controversial cases of application (...)
