IGOR ARTEMIEV PRESENTED A DRAFT LAW “ON THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF STATE REGULATION OF PRICES (TARIFFS)”

On 30 January 2019, Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) Igor Artemiev presented a law “On the basic principles of state regulation of prices (tariffs)” drafted by FAS jointly with the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

“The draft law is refined and coordinated with the Ministry of Economic Development. Working on it, we took into account a lot of comments and proposals from business, particularly, members of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs”, informed Igor Artemiev.

According to Head of FAS, “the positions of FAS and the Ministry of Economic Development on the one hand, and business on the other, have approximated considerably”.

At the same time, Igor Artemiev pointed out that the work on the draft law continues.

“Upon discussing the draft law at the Bureau of the Board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, we also plan to meet with representatives of “Business Russia” and “OPORA Russia” to find out their point of view, take into account their wishes, comments, and make the law more harmonious and balanced, stated Igor Artemiev.

Explaining the draft law objective, Igor Artemiev pointed out a long-standing need to establish unified, clear and understandable rules of tariff regulation in Russia.  Now there are more than 150 different tariff regulations: 18 laws, more than 40 Decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation and more than 100 departmental normative acts.

FAS underlines that the difference in tariffs for the same type of services can reach dozens of times, while regulators can make nearly any arbitrary decisions. The draft law prepared by FAS together with the Ministry of Economic Development is designed to correct the situation.

The draft law lists regulated spheres of activities, determines common goals, principles, forms and methods of state regulation of prices (tariffs), introduces the basic provisions on investment activities of regulated subjects, reflects the basic procedure for establishing regulated prices (tariffs), describes the procedure for exercising government control.

The main principles of state regulation of prices (tariffs) will be:

• The priority of state regulation of prices (tariffs) by the comparative analysis (benchmark expenses (costs)).

• Setting prices (tariffs) on the basis of their economic.

• Observing the balance of economic interests of regulated subjects and consumer interests.

• Setting long-term prices (tariffs).

• Terminating, including step-by-step measures, or minimizing the scope of cross-subsidizing.