Vesna Patrlj (1961) Vice - President of the Competition Council Ms Patrlj graduated at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb in 1984 and passed her bar exam. From 1985 to 1997 she worked in the Department for implementation of international agreements at the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute. In the position of the advisor she participated in the negotiations and drafting of the proposals for social insurance international agreements between the Republic of Croatia and many European countries. Since the establishment of the CCA in 1997 she has occupied the leading positions involving implementation of competition rules (from 1997 to 2001 she was the head of the Department for assessment of agreements, from 2001 to 2003 she was the deputy of the former head of the CCA, then she was an independent advisor in the Office of the President of the Council, the head of the Division for Legal and Economic System and, from 2005 to 2009 the head of the Competition Division). On 20 February 2009 she was appointed a member of the Competition Council by the Croatian Parliament. She made invaluable contribution to the drafting for all proposals for competition rules in Croatia and she was responsible for their compliance with the EU competition rules in the working groups whose member or head she was appointed. Ms Patrlj was also a member of the working group in the negotiations for the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the EU in Chapter 8: Competition Policy, particularly covering restrictive agreements. She was also a member of the expert team in the negotiations concerning the conclusion of the Agreement of Amendment of and Accession to the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA). She has been trained in a number of seminars, workshops and conferences in the area of competition law and policy, organized by the EU institutions, US Ministry of Justice, OECD, WTO, IBA, EIPA etc. She has also given papers at many professional gatherings home and abroad. She is a guest speaker at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb. Ms Patrlj is the author or a co-author of a number of articles and contributions, the most recent being published in the collection of papers Competition Law – Novelties in the Croatian and European Legislation and Practice, under the title: Vertical Agreements – Novelties in the Croatian Legislation. She is also an examiner at the State exam for administration in the area of competition and State aid at the Ministry of Public Administration. She speaks English. She does not support any political party.
