High Administrative Court rejects claims brought by Croatian Hunting Association and upholds the CCA decision on predatory pricing

In its ruling of 17 December 2025, the High Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia, rejected the statement of claim of the claimant, the Croatian Hunting Association, Zagreb, and upheld the decision of the Croatian Competition Agency (CCA) of 23 December 2024 on abuse of a dominant position through the application of predatory pricing. The Court also rejected the claimant’s request for reimbursement of the costs of the proceedings.

Previously, by its decision of 23 December 2024, the CCA established that, in the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2024, the Croatian Hunting Association distorted competition on the relevant market for the provision of hunter training services in the territory of the Republic of Croatia by applying a predatory price of HRK 400.00 excluding VAT (HRK 500.00 including VAT), corresponding to EUR 53.09 excluding VAT (EUR 66.36 including VAT), which was below the costs of providing the service.

The CCA found that, by engaging in such conduct, the claimant cross-subsidised the hunter training services using profits generated on markets where it operates under a statutory monopoly with the objective of excluding competitors and strengthening its market power and therefore constituted abuse of a dominant position within the meaning of Article 13(1) of the Competition Act.

Under its decision the CCA:

• prohibited any further conduct that raised competition concerns;
  • imposed a fine of EUR 89,935.20;
  • ordered the Croatian Hunting Association, within four months of the receipt of the decision, to keep separate cost accounting between the hunter training activities and the activities carried out under statutory monopoly conditions, and to implement a transparent transfer pricing framework applicable to transactions with county hunting associations and other members participating in the hunter training programme. Non-compliance may lead to the imposition of periodic penalty payments.

The High Administrative Court confirmed the legality of the CCA decision, concluding that the facts had been correctly and comprehensively established, that the decision clearly set out the evidence on which the findings were based and provided detailed reasoning grounded in a thorough evidentiary assessment, and that the substantive law had been correctly applied, including the appropriate application of EU law criteria. The Court endorsed the conclusion that the price of HRK 400.00 was below the costs of providing the service and that this constituted abuse of a dominant position through predatory pricing, capable of excluding, or likely to place the claimant in a position to exclude, one or more equally efficient competitors from the market.

Following the judgment of the High Administrative Court, the CCA decision of 23 December 2024 has become final.

The integral version of the ruling of the High Administrative Court in the Croatian language is available on the CCA website.