A draft law on antimonopoly compliance is submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation

Head of FAS Legal Department Artem Molchanov informed a workshop of the Organizaiton for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

Special attention was paid at the event to the measures applied by companies to prevent anticompetitive activities and ensure compliance with the competition law.

According to Sabina Zigelski, a senior OECD competition expert, measures preventing anticompetitive practices and violations of the antimonopoly adopted by corporations encourage investment growth through strengthening trust across investors. OECD representative emphasized that companies may reach a high level of compliance with the law and regulatory acts on competition through devising proper, well-functioning policies, mechanisms and incentives that, along with the general corporate governance efficiency, will reinforce a long-term growth and sustainability.

Head of FAS Legal Department Artem Molchanovinformed the event participants about the state of the competition law in Russia. He pointed out that in the past 10 years the issues of competition protection reached a new level.

Artem Molchanov underlined: “Competition has become an important element of economic development in Russia. The Antimonopoly Service has already started drafting a document which will indicate for the authorities, businesses and consumers where should we move to improve the economic situation. This is the National Competition Development Plan”.

He outlined the provisions of the “forth antimonopoly package”. “Adopting this law, we fulfilled OECD recommendations. Thus, one may state that Russian antimonopoly law conforms to the best world practices”, pointed out Deputy Head of FAS.

Another initiative is to formalize compliance in the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”. “The Strategy for developing competition and the antimonopoly law provides for a set of measures towards advocacy compliance. The draft law devised by FAS has formed positive legal consequences for the companies that use this institution in their operations. The draft amendments are forwarded to the Government of the Russian Federation”, said Artem Molchanov.

Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department, Andrey Tenishev also took part in the event. He emphasized the advantages of implementing antimonopoly compliance: preventing reputational harm, preventing violations and administrative leniency.

“Adopting such an institution by a company is one of the elements that makes the business community aware of the prohibition of anticompetitive agreements”, stated Andrey Tenishev.

All workshop participants pointed out that cooperation between FAS, OECD and private companies makes an invaluable contribution in developing the institution of compliance. FAS and OECD agreed to organize similar events in the future.