IGOR ARTEMIEV: COMPETITION POLICY NEEDS AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH

The future is innovations, synergy, transparency and cooperation

Head of FAS Igor Artemiev talked about this at the Plenary session - “New challenges: new competition policy” of St Petersburg International Legal Forum on 17 May 2018.

He reminded of No.618 Order of the President of the Russian Federation “On the main directions of the state policy towards developing competition” that predetermines the vector of developing antimonopoly regulation in Russia. Igor Artemiev emphasized that the Order is instrumental for developing competition in Russia.

Head of FAS pointed out that the Federal Antimonopoly Service combines successfully diverse functions in antimonopoly and tariff regulation, control over public procurement and public defence procurement, advertising, foreign investments and trade in order to pursue a pro-competitive policy: “The synergy of FAS powers has proved its efficiency. The historic decision of the President and the Government of Russia has already delivered benefits and put Russia on an important way to the new economy”.

Head of the Antimonopoly Service said that legal regulation in the digital economy should be modernized and the “fifth antimonopoly package” of amendments is one of such measures.

Discussing changes in antimonopoly control, he stressed that FAS is already using new approaches to antimonopoly cases and economic concentration transactions (mergers) in terms of developing digital economy. As examples, he gave cases against “Google”, “Microsoft” and “Apple” as well as “Bayer-Monsanto” and “Yandex.Taxi – Uber” mergers.

“We look at the balance of intellectual property rights and antimonopoly regulation and network effects accounting for the impact of big data upon competition. In such mergers, conditions for non-discriminatory access to big data and technologies are mandatory”, pointed outIgor Artemiev.

Disusing FAS “digital” capability, Head of the Antimonopoly Service emphasized efficiency of a technology for remote bid-rigging exposure, developing aggregator platforms, “big data” analysis, countering price robots at e-auctions and benchmarking.

He informed that “from 1 July Russia moves to electronic procurement. It is a serious resource to combat corruption, opening colossal opportunities for budgetary saving”.

Regarding benchmarking efficiency, Igor Artemiev underlined: “When a machine gives as an average weighted price for millions of deals, we see whether a particular price is overrated. Creating a BRICS blockchain platform for socially important goods would eliminate possible price manipulations on the BRICS markets”.

He added that benchmarking of international prices for medicinal drugs, carried out by FAS, helped reduce ex-works prices for 845 drugs.

As another element of the “image of the future”, Igor Artemiev mentioned cooperation, especially within BRICS. He said that representatives of BRICS member-sates and their antimonopoly bodies should invite top-executives of the largest transitional corporations to the meetings of the Working groups to discuss and cease unfair practices and develop the best practices in the interests of our countries.

“Implementing innovations in our work, the synergy of different powers to pursue a pro-competitive policy, ensuring maximum public exposure and transparency of public procurement,  pricing for socially important goods and other processes, cooperation between antimonopoly bodies, first of all, BRICS and EAEU countries will give us a great economic future, to which we are already moving”, summed up Head of FAS.