Workshop on promoting competition international best practices
Economic analysis in Horizontal and Non-Horizontal Mergers Workshop
(February-March, Chile)
On February 28 – March 1, 2019 the representatives of the FAS Russia took part in the Economic analysis in Horizontal and Non-Horizontal Mergers Workshop organized by the National Economic Prosecutor's Office of Chile.
During the Workshop representatives of competition authorities discussed the role of economic analysis and other tools used in considering horizontal and vertical mergers. The officials of the FAS Russia took an active part in the discussions and presented Russian experience on the above-mentioned topics. The FAS Russia presented the report "Merger in the multilateral digital market with network effects: the merger of Yandex.Taxi and Uber", which reflects the main aspects of the extended study conducted by the FAS Russia and the assessment of the consequences of the merger of companies.
APEC Competition Policy and Law Group Meeting
(March, Chile)
On March 2, 2019 during the first part of the meeting APEC projects were discussed, in particular, training course on the use of economic analysis in horizontal and vertical mergers organized by the National Economic Prosecutor's Office of Chile. The APEC secretariat presented information on current and future projects, as well as outlined work priorities for 2020, including increasing the effectiveness of APEC's activities in the field of competition policy, conducting research on issues of interest to APEC economies, as well as increasing the number of projects. The representative of the Mexican competition authority made a proposal to conduct the APEC training project "Development of Competition using online platforms". Besides, the Taiwan competition authority made a presentation on the development of the APEC Competition Policy and Law Database.
The FAS Russia also made a report on the updates in Russian competition legislation. It was noted that an important event in the field of competition policy was the approval of the National Competition Development Plan in the Russian Federation for 2018 - 2020. Its implementation is aimed at reducing the share of state participation in competitive sectors of the economy, tariff regulation reform, prevention and suppression of antimonopoly violations that lead to restriction and elimination of competition in the markets, as well as the development of small and medium-sized businesses. The main principle of the state policy on the development of competition is the improvement of antimonopoly regulation in the digital economy and its globalization. In this regard, the FAS Russia has prepared amendments to the Law on Protection of Competition (the so-called "fifth antimonopoly package").
During the second part of the meeting, the participants discussed the issues of bid-rigging. The representative of the FAS Russia made a presentation "FAS Russia - Best Practices on Fighting Bid Riggings". It was noted that the public procurement system is an important tool for supporting business and the fair distribution of public resources. The attendees of the meeting were informed about the Russian practice of proving bid-riggings, the industries in which collusion is most frequent, as well as the examples of significant cases considered by the FAS Russia.
Workshop on Competition Policy for Regulating Online Platforms in the APEC Region
(May, Mexico)
On May 7 - 9, 2019 the representatives of competition authorities discussed various approaches to antimonopoly regulation of online platforms and digital markets. The FAS Russia took an active part in the discussions and presented the experience on the above-mentioned topics. Particularly the report was presented on the specifics of the consideration by the FAS Russia of the case against Google and on the provisions of the concept on the pre-installation of applications based on the practices developed during the consideration of this case. Besides, the FAS Russia made a presentation concerning issues and challenges faced by the authority in the implementation of antimonopoly control over information systems of various authorities of the Russian Federation.
FTAAP Capacity Building Workshop on Competition Policy under the 3rd REI CBNI: sharing good examples of FTAs/EPAs
(August, Chile)
On August 24, 2019 the delegation of the FAS Russia took part in the APEC Workshop organized by the APEC Trade and Investment Committee within the framework of the third meeting of APEC Senior Officials in Puerto Varas.
During the seminar, the representatives of competition authorities exchanged the experience as well as the best practices on the inclusion of competition issues in FTAs/EPAs.
Special attention of the Workshop participants was paid on studying and discussing the importance and necessity of including elements in the structure of agreements that contribute to more effective international cooperation. Besides, the fundamental elements FTAs/EPAs as coordination and cooperation between competition authorities in the field of law enforcement were also examined.
During the Workshop the Fair Trade Commission of Japan presented the report on the results of a survey conducted among APEC economies on the availability of signed free trade agreements and economic partnership agreements and their internal structure.