Ivo Šimeček

Ivo Šimeček is a senior associate at Havel, Holásek & Partners. He specialises in competition law, commercial law, public procurement and state aid law.

In the field of competition law, he focuses on cases involving dominance abuse, on business relations between suppliers and customers and on cartel agreements. He also has ample experience in advising on mergers and on regulatory issues related to dealings between business partners under the Act on Prices. In addition, Ivo focuses on prohibited state aid and remediation of market distortions. In the area of public procurement, he specialises in advisory to contracting authorities on the organisation of tender procedures, as well as to tenderers and other bidders for public contracts. Ivo also deals with diverse legal issues relating to the interpretation and application of Czech and European legislation.

During his practice, Ivo has represented numerous clients in proceedings before the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition, administrative courts and the European Commission.

Before joining Havel, Holásek & Partners, after completing his law studies, Ivo worked at the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition in the Public Procurement Section. He then completed a one-year legal course in EU law in 2004 and joined a major Czech law firm, where he worked until 2010, specialising in competition law and public procurement.

TRANSACTIONS

• representing a client in connection with an alleged cartel agreement among building societies
• conducting a legal due diligence investigation of a major food producer with respect to compliance with competition rules in relationships with customers
• advising a haulier in a dispute with a competitor – defence against a dominance abuse in the form of unreasonable pricing policy
• advising an energy company on coal supplies – defence against excessive pricing under the Act on Prices
• advising on the merger of two major agricultural companies
• advising two major sectoral contracting authorities (in the energy sector) on the organisation of public tenders and dealing with related issues
• advising a hospital on organising tender procedures for the supply of medical equipment and use of subsidies from EU funds
• advising a contracting authority on the issue of invalidity of an agreement on the provision of legal services due to a breach of the rules of public tenders

MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

• Czech Bar Association