The report on developing competition policy in Russia shall be forwarded to the Council of the Heads of the CIS Governments

The decision is made by the Economic Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on 9 September 2016 in Moscow.

Deputy Head of FAS, Sergey Puzyrevskiy presented Russian experience in developing competition policy and the role of the antimonopoly bodies in reaching its social-and economic objectives.

First, he outlined the stages of establishing the competition law. March 2016 marked the 25-year anniversary of adopting the Law of the Russian Federation (RSFSR) “On Competition and Restricting Monopolistic Activity on Goods Markets”.

“It should be pointed out that all institutions embedded in the Law are maintained. Only the mechanisms of their realization have changed”, said Sergey Puzyrevskiy.

The modern stage of developing the antimonopoly law started in 2006 with passing the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”. It unified legal regulation of relations on goods as well as financial markets, while preserving some functional differences.

Four antimonopoly packages were adopted, which facilitated a reputable international organization - OECD - recognizing that Russian competition law policy meets OECD high standards.

The antimonopoly bodies of other CIS member-states have been FAS strategic partners for many years; the priority is working under the frame of the Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy (ICAP), which was formed in 1993. The main ICAP objective is economic integration by approximating the national competition laws and their enforcement practices by the CIS member-states.

Then Sergey Puzyrevskiy discussed FAS powers. The latest changes occurred in 2015 when tariff regulation and control over public defence procurement were transferred to the antimonopoly body.

“Legislative and institutional changes that have lately taken place in Russian competition policy can be of considerable interest for use in the practice of the CIS member-states”, concluded Sergey Puzyrevskiy.

The Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee – CIS Executive Secretary, Sergey Lebedev, gave a positive assessment of ICAP, under the frame of which the report was drafted.