Sergey Puzyrevskiy: FAS plans to create professional standards in antimonopoly regulation and the competition law

Education and research take the leading place in the National Competition Development Plan

Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) Sergey Puzyrevskiy informed the Research-and-Methodological Council of the antimonopoly body on the reasons for drafting such a complex document as the National Competition Development Plan.

“The Report on the state of competition submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation enabled the following conclusions”, stared Deputy Head of FAS. “First, the Antimonopoly Service gave a high-quality system for competition protection. Russian law in general meets the international standards. It should be pointed out that the latest changes to the Law “On Protection of Competition” allowed fulfilling OECD Recommendations. The mechanisms associated with economic analysis in investigating antimonopoly cases were reinforced, and much more”.

“In this view, we have achievements; but successes in competition protection do not correlate with the development level. The main reason is increasing state property in Russian economy”, added Sergey Puzyrevskiy.

He continued: “Entering a competitive market, a state-run company very quickly transforms it into a monopoly. An analysis of operations of state and municipal unitary enterprises showed that one third of such enterprises are involved in leasing property, commerce, passenger transportation. These are the sectors where entrepreneurs are able to fully realize one’s potential, and through their actions develop competition on a particular market”.

Deputy Head of FAS outlined the issues within the tariff regulation system. Sergey Puzyrevskiy stated that at the moment there are no unified tariff-setting rules, which creates discriminatory conditions for the organizations that are given different tariffs in comparable conditions. Sergey Puzyrevskiy said: “We consider that the issue should be solved for further efficient economic development”.

“A set of measures of the National Competition Development Plan is built up on the methods of solving the current issues. The indicators included in the Plan specify that in the Russian Federation there should be no fields of economic activity where private business is not represented”, indicated Head of the Antimonopoly Service. “Other provisions of the National Plan are designed to decrease the number of violations by the authorities and increase twofold direct procurement from small business”.

“I’d like to draw your attention that the aspects of education and research have the leading positions in the Plan. It provides for developing the professional standard in antimonopoly regulation and the competition law. In our opinion, it will give a powerful impulse for training specialists in educational institutions. Hopefully, the National Plan will help us be successful in this part”, emphasized Sergey Puzyrevskiy.

Head of FAS Legal Department Artem Molchanov presented draft explanations to the Research-and-Methodological Council regarding various elements of violations specified in the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” and the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations. The Council decided to refine it and discuss it by FAS Presidium in the near future.