UNCTAD IS DISCUSSING DRAFT GUIDING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

On 8 April 2019, there was an expert meeting on competition law and policy at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva (Switzerland)

The goal was to discuss the draft Guiding Policies and Procedures for International Cooperation that are being developed on the UNCTAD platform. The Guiding Policies and Procedures for International Cooperation are drafted in elaboration of Section F of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practice. An integral element of the Guiding Policies and Procedures for International Cooperation is a Toolkit on International Cooperation that FAS presented to UNCTAD in 2016.

Delegation of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, including Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov; Head of FAS Department for International Economic Cooperation, Lesya Davydova; Unit Head, Deputy Head of FAS Department for International Economic Cooperation, Anna Pozdnyakova, took part in the discussion of draft Guiding Policies and Procedures for International Cooperation.

Andrey Tsyganov pointed out that “Representatives of numerous competition authorities were involved in drafting of the document. There have been plenty of negotiations within 18 months and a consensus is reached about the content of the draft Guiding Policies and Procedures for International Cooperation. The draft is presented for discussion to a broad range of competition authorities, especially young and developing, for whom it is especially important to obtain a set of practical tools for cooperation with their more developed colleagues in the modern economic conditions”.

The meeting was held in a format of a vivid discussion on the draft Guiding Policies and Procedures; representatives of more than 40 competition authorities asked questions and expressed their positions regarding various provisions of the document.

Anna Pozdnyakova moderated the discussion of the text of the Toolkit on International Cooperation in investigating antimonopoly cases.

“In 2016 Head of FAS Igor Artemiev presented for the first time the draft Toolkit on International Cooperation in order to formalize practical tools for cooperation between competition authorities in a UN document. The discussion on the initiative showed that developing agencies are interested in adoption of such a document at UNCTAD platform to further use it in their practice. We welcome comments and ideas with regard to the content of the Toolkit from all stakeholders”, said Anna Pozdnyakova.

Discussions of the Guiding Policies and Procedures will continue in the form of teleconferences, direct face-to-face encounters during global international events on competition policy and at the forthcoming session of UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy in July 2019.

Lesya Davydovacommented the results of the meeting: “The results of the expert meeting showed that numerous competition authorities are demonstrating a deep interest to the document that is being drafted by UNCTAD. We will continue intensive efforts and work on the text of the document with a broad range of participants form developed and developing competition authorities in order to adopt it at the Conference on the Revision of the UN Set on Competition in 2020”.

Reference:

Draft Guiding Policies and Procedures for International Cooperation in elaboration of Section F of the UN Competition Set was devised on the basis of a FAS proposal to adopt the Toolkit on International Cooperation between competition authorities. The Drafting Committee, currently comprising 10 competition authorities, is drafting text of the document.

The draft Guiding Policies and Procedures are under discussion by UNCTAD Discussion Group on International Cooperation, where more than 50 competition agencies are involved.