Igor Artemiev: the concept of unified federal law on tariff regulation is approved by the Government in general

In the near future an inter-branch Working Group shall be formed to draft the law

The agenda of the joint session of FAS and Antimonopoly Expert Association once again touched the most pressing issues emerging in antimonopoly enforcement.

In March 2017 Anna Numerova, who chairs the Association’s General Council put forward explanations on the work with confidential information.  In the time past enormous efforts have been undertaken, the result of which are the draft explanations. Now the draft law is being approved by the structural units of the Antimonopoly Service.

Head of FAS Igor Artemiev informed that the issue would be discussed within a month and the work on the explanations will be finalized by the end of the year.

The next item concerned complaints about tenders that take place under the bankruptcy procedure. At one of the joint meetings, representatives of the Association pointed out that they are “specific” and different from the procedures of Nos. 44-FZ and 223-FZ. The issue is as follows: tenders under the bankruptcy procedure are divided into intervals and the price is determined for each interval. It shifts from the initial (maximum) to the minimum. Before 2015 there was a clear procedure providing that the winner of such tenders is a person that was the first to file an application at each interval. During 2015 the law was changed and this norm was excluded. As a result, there are no distinct and clear criteria for determining the winner.

It generated varied enforcement practice. Representatives of the Association stated that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation passed three acts drawing a line: the winner is determined based on the interval. по итогам интервала. There was also a discussion on the required changes to the law. The attendees mentioned 50 regulatory acts on mandatory tender procedures.

Igor Artemiev added: “FAS jointly with the Ministry of Economic Development completed the work on the draft law that unifies the procedure of public sales. The draft law has been submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation”.

The Head of FAS Legal Department, Artem Molchanov, outlined the work on explaining how to determine the size if losses caused by antimonopoly violations.

“The document is at a high degree of readiness. FAS received proposals and comments from the authorities and NGOs. We have had several meetings and resolved the differences”, stated Artem Molchanov. The collegial body of FAS - Presidium will discuss the document at the next session.

The final block was the concept of the unified Federal Law on the state tariff regulation.

Igor Artemiev concluded: “Important changes happened in this field. Several days ago there was a meeting at the Government of the Russian Federation, where a decision was made to approve the concept of the draft law in general. In the near future the Working Group will be formed to devise the draft law”.