Matthias Hesdey, Senior Legal Counsel for Central and Eastern European countries at Veolia Group, and Arian Oystreicher, Head of Competition, Procurement, and Insurance Services, jointly conducted the training program titled “Armenia: Compliance with Competition Law.”
The training took place at the company's Aeration Training Center, with the participation of Veolia Water’s directors, heads of various departments, and leading specialists—in other words, the key decision-makers within the organization. And the subject matter was of utmost importance.
Corruption, favoritism, and unfair competition are not only legally and morally unacceptable phenomena—they also cause significant financial damage to businesses, reduce their operational efficiency, and jeopardize the successful implementation of projects. At Veolia Water, the volume of construction work, procurement of material and technical resources, and service contracts is growing day by day. Therefore, the procurement process must be continuously improved in accordance with the standards accepted within the Veolia Group and must meet the set requirements. That’s why employee training in procurement-related areas is carried out regularly, in line with current needs.
The presentations focused on the following key topics:
- What issues are addressed by competition law?
- What constitutes an anti-competitive agreement?
- How can abuse of dominant position be prevented?
- How can cases of unfair competition be identified?
These are precisely the topics that utility professionals need today.
At Veolia Water, the work never stops. It is essential to constantly assess when it is possible and appropriate to outsource procurement and projects to external companies, how to select these companies, what the tender documents should include, and how to ensure maximum transparency in the process, among other considerations.
The audience was active and engaged.
There were numerous practical questions for the lecturers. In short, the participants learned their lesson well—which means their work will now be even more effective.