VLADIMIR MISHELOVIN: IT IS NOT A COINCEDENCE THAT TATARSTAN IS SELECTED TO DISCUSS DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITION AND CONTROL OF ALCOHOL MARKETS

On 7 February 2018 the Working Group for developing competition on regional alcohol markets, formed at a specialized FAS Expert Council, met for the first time in Kazan.

Attendees included representatives of FAS, regional authorities from Taratstan, Bashkortostan, the Belgorod region, companies operating on the alcohol market and regulators responsible for quality control of alcohol products in those regions.

The main item in the agenda: devising the Competition Development Standard in alcohol markets and organizing government control of product quality and turnover in a subject of the Russian Federation. The purpose of developing the Standard is to improve the competitive environment and establish unified approaches for regulating regional alcohol markets.

Head of FAS Fiscal Control Department Vladimir Mishelovin pointed out that selecting Tatarstan for the first session of the Working Group was not a coincidence. The Republic introduced a regional system for control over production and turnover of alcohol items as far back as in mid-1990s and now is one of the flagships in Russia.

Head of State Alcohol Inspection of the Republic of Tatarstan, Zhaudat Akhmetkhanov, who chaired the meeting, emphasized the importance of unifying the control mechanisms for the quality of turnover of alcohol items in all regions. He asked members of the Working Group to put forward their proposals regarding the main tasks, basic elements and tools of regional control over sales of alcohol products, from the perspective of experience and practice of the relevant regions.

The Working Group also discussed experience of public control, possibility of mobile trade with alcohol products in remote areas, as well as presence of an executive body in each region responsible for control over alcohol product turnover in a particular subject of the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Mishelovin drew attention of the Working Group to the need to unite efforts of federal and regional authorities to create efficient mechanisms of control over alcohol product circulation in view of the new tasks formulated in No. 618 Order of the President of Russia “On the main areas of the state policy towards developing competition” of 21.12.2017.

“To solve social-and-economic issues, the authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation are constantly searching for additional income sources. Here a big temptation emerges: to assist regional companies creating entry barriers for the “aliens”, said Vladimir Mishelovin.

In his opinion, the objective of the Working Group is to find the balance of interests and create equal “doing business” conditions for all market participants, regardless of the place of their registration.

The next session of the Working Group will take place in Ufa (Bashkortostan).