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JUDr. Marcela Káňová, Ph.D.
Introduction Experiences Specialization References Publikacations
Home JUDr. Marcela Káňová, Ph.D.

JUDr. Marcela Káňová, Ph.D.

Partner

E kanova@rowan.legal

Marcela Káňová

Marcela Káňová is a leading expert in the field of public procurement and competition in the Czech Republic.

Her main area of expertise is representing clients in administrative proceedings before the Office for the Protection of Competition, administrative courts, and the European Commission, as well as in objections in tendering procedures. She also specializes in IT law, where she benefits from practical experience in the IT sector, which she gained as a partner at IBM.

Prior to joining ROWAN LEGAL, she was a partner at the PORTOS law firm until September 2021,

where she advised clients in the areas of cartels, abuse of dominance, the competition law assessment of mergers and acquisitions, significant market power, state aid, and public procurement. She also helped establish a legal team specializing in these areas, which she led for several years. She has participated in the implementation of numerous key projects in the areas of ICT, railway infrastructure, energy, and petrochemicals. Before joining entering the legal profession in 2015, she headed the Public Procurement and Bid Rigging Monitoring Department at the Office for the Protection of Competition. In this role, in addition to supervising the procedures of contracting authorities in the investigation of complaints and the conduct of administrative proceedings, she was also involved in uncovering cases of illegal cartel agreements among suppliers bidding for public contracts.

Marcela is a member of the Appeals Commission of the Chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition for public procurement

and of the Appeals Commission of the Director of the National Cyber and Information Security Agency. In addition, she is a member of the Supervisory Board of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic and serves on the Expert Team for the Digital Economy, Public Procurement, and the Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic.



Experiences

2023 — present

Professional experience

Organization: ROWAN LEGAL, law firm

Position: Attorney-at-law and Partner

2021 — 2023

Professional experience

Organization: IBM Czech Republic s.r.o., IBM Consulting

Position: Business Sales & Delivery Executive

2019 — 2021

Professional experience

Organization: Císař, Češka, Smutný law firm

Position: Lawyer and Partner

2018 — 2019

Professional experience

Organization: Císař, Češka, Smutný law firm

Position: Associate and Legal Team Leader

2017 — 2018

Professional experience

Organization: Císař, Češka, Smutný law firm

Position: Junior Lawyer and Legal Team Leader

2015 — 2017

Professional experience

Organization: Císař, Češka, Smutný law firm

Position: Junior Lawyer

2013 — 2015

Professional experience

Organization: Office for the Protection of Competition

Position: Director of Public Procurement and Bid Rigging

2013 — 2014

Professional experience

Organization: Office for the Protection of Competition

Position: Principal Expert in the Awareness and Transparency of Public Procurement project

2012 — 2013

Professional experience

Organization: Office for the Protection of Competition

Position: Officer

2011 — 2012

Professional experience

Organization: Mgr. Viktora Klímy, law firm

Position: Junior lawyer

Education

School: Charles University, Faculty of Law

Field of study: Commercial Law

Education

School: Charles University, Faculty of Law

Field of study: Theoretical Legal Sciences – Business Law

Education

School: Masaryk University in Brno, Faculty of Law

Field of study: Law and Legal Studies

Education

School: Leopold – Franzens Universität Innsbruck, Rechtwissenschaften, Insbruck, Austria

Field of study: Public International Law and European Law

Specialization

References

Represented a major railway carrier

Represented a major railway carrier in proceedings before the Office for the Protection of Competition regarding a cartel agreement on the rail freight transport market in the form of market sharing. The administrative proceedings included a successful leniency application and a settlement procedure. The originally threatened fine of hundreds of millions was minimized and the negative impact on the specific persons involved in the formation and execution of the cartel agreement were averted.

Assisted in advising a client

Assisted in advising a client operating in the passenger rail transport market in the context of an investigation by the European Commission into possible abuse of a dominant position in the form of alleged underpricing on a specific route after competitors began operating on the same route. The Commission’s investigation was eventually dropped after several years.

Represented a group of companies

Represented a group of companies involved in the mining and processing of non-metallic minerals in cartel proceedings before the Office for the Protection of Competition. Despite the fact that the cartel agreement was curiously concluded in the form of a notarial deed, the resulting fine was minimal due to the procedural strategy and settlement procedure.

Represented a major bank

Represented a major bank in an OCC investigation into possible abuse of dominant position by payment card companies (Visa and Mastercard) in setting fees for withdrawals from foreign ATMs. The result was an adjustment of these conditions in favor of the client.

Provided legal advice to a state-owned company

Provided legal advice to a state-owned company dealing with the mitigation of the consequences of mining activities in the design and implementation of a comprehensive solution that enabled the continuation and completion of the liquidation of one of the largest environmental burdens in the Czech Republic – the Ostrava oil lagoons. This solution, which was limited in particular with regard to the Public Procurement Act, included the termination of the original implementation contract, the conclusion of a settlement agreement between the contracting authority and the original contractor, and the implementation of a mini- tender for the conclusion of a new contract worth CZK 400 million.

Provided comprehensive contract management support

Provided comprehensive contract management support throughout for a contracting authority managing an information system that is part of the state’s critical information infrastructure of the state, in order to ensure its support, maintenance, and development. She proposed a plan, – which she also participated in thein whose implementation ofshe also took part, – and thanks to which athat enabled the selection of a new supplier was selected in an open tender, despite a decade-longovercoming a vendor lock-in that had persisted for more than a decade. Her legal advice also included negotiating with the existing supplier, which resulted inleading to its commitment to assign the exercise of copyright ownership rights to the contracting authority upon termination of the tendered contract, thus finally freeing itself from the proprietary lock-in.

Represented one of the most important Czech cultural institutions

Represented one of the most important Czech cultural institutions in numerous disputes related to tenders for the implementation of new permanent exhibitions, the largest exhibition project in Czech history, employing state-of-the-art presentation methods, audiovisual elements, and interactive features. In addition to administrative proceedings before the Office for the Protection of Competition, the work also included representation in court in actions for damages against the contracting authority in the relatively untested area of damages in public procurement.

Provided comprehensive legal advice

Provided comprehensive legal advice to a railway infrastructure manager in the preparation of a transaction in the form of a transfer of part of a plant to this manager, with an emphasis on merger, public aid, and public procurement aspects, while including the preparation of transaction documentation.

Publications

Mlsna P. a kol.

2022

Competition and public procurement. Synergies and intersections

Káňová M.

2023

Selected aspects and institutes

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