Sankcioniranje fizičkih osoba za povrede tržišnog natjecanja, pokajnički program i novi čl. 65.a ZZTN-a

This paper analyzes the new Article 65a of the Competition Act, introduced in 2021, in the light of the ECN+ Directive, which aims to ensure that natural persons, employees of a leniency applicant, are protected from sanctions in connection with their participation in the cartel to which the leniency application is related. It is generally considered that, in the absence of such protection, the use of the leniency programme, which ensures vigorous anti-cartel enforcement at the EU supranational level but also in some Member States, would be jeopardized. In this paper, we argue that there is a mismatch between the Croatian competition law system de lege lata and the way in which Article 23 of the ECN+ Directive was transposed in Article 65a of the Competition Act when it comes to protection from both administrative and criminal sanctions.