FAS WILL CONTINUE COOPERAITON WITH INDIA COMPETITION COMMISSION

It was a decision of Head of FAS Igor Artemiev had a meeting with Mr. Singh, a counsel of India Competition Commission at a bilateral meeting in St Petersburg

On 17 May 2018, during St Petersburg International Legal Forum, Head of FAS Igor Artemiev had a meeting with Mr. Singh, a counsel of India Competition Commission.

First, Head of FAS thanked Mr. Singh for active involvement of Commission representatives in FAS events. Igor Artemiev emphasized a high degree of cooperation between the agencies when considering “Bayer-Monsanto” merger as well as studying competition on the pharmaceutical and automotive markets, both within BRICS Working Groups and bilaterally.

“I would like to thank India Competition Commission for very productive cooperation in the course of merger consideration. Your experience has been essential for FAS”, pointed out Igor Artemiev. “Active cooperation with the Commission when considering the merger between agro-industrial giants “Monsanto” and “Bayer” enabled FAS to achieve significant results. Through a confidentiality waiver we were able to openly discuss concerns around this merger for developing competition on the agro-technological market of our countries and the conditions that our agencies were going to set.”

Head of FAS informed Mr. Singh that FAS had approved a petition of “Bayer” to acquire more than 50 % voting shares of “Monsanto” and issued an order to exercise measures designed to develop competition in the agro-technological sector of Russia through building up competitive ability of Russian companies.

Igor Artemiev answered questions from Mr. Singh on details as to how the Federal Antimonopoly Service analyzed “Bayer-Monsanto” merger and the technology transfer mechanism specified in the order.

“Hopefully, close cooperation with India Competition Commission will continue, both for considering mergers and investigating particular cases in other sectors”, summed up Igor Artemiev.

Head of FAS informed Mr. Singh about events organized by FAS and invited the colleagues from India Competition Commission to take part in the next Competition Week in Russia on 24-26 September 2018 in Sochi.

Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov; Head of the Department for International Economic Cooperation, Lesya Davydova; Deputy Head of the Department for International Economic Cooperation, Head of International Information Communications, Anna Pozdnyakova also took part in the meeting.

Reference:

In the course of merger consideration, FAS and the Commission had 7 teleconferences based on waivers. On 12-13 February 2018 FAS also held consultations with representatives of India Competition Commission to discuss approaches to the merger, and the risks from the merger upon competition in Russia and India. At the meeting FAS handed over a confidential version of the decision on the merger to the Commission.