COMPETITION AUTHORITIES OF RUSSIA AND ITALY DISCUSSED PRESSING ISSUES OF COOPERATION
The key issue is further directions of the efforts of the International Working Group for studying competition on the pharmaceutical markets
On 21 January 2020, Stats-Secretary, Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsarikovsky had a meeting with the new Head of Italy’s Competition Authority, Roberto Rustichelli, in Rome (Italy).
The parities pointed out that 2020 marks the beginning of a new decade of successful cooperation between the antimonopoly regulators of Russia and Italy that have been actively cooperating on all aspects of joint antimonopoly agenda since FAS and Italy’s Competition Authority had signed an Agreement on Cooperation.
One of the key items at the meeting was discussing the results and further directions of activities of the International Working Group for studying competition on the pharmaceutical markets. FAS and Italy’s Competition Authority co-chair the Group.
“The pharmaceutical market is a priority, socially important market, so exchanging experiences with Italian competition body in this area seems to be essential. In this context, we highly value the activities of the International Working Group on pharmaceuticals that our agencies co-chair. We are glad that the efforts of the Working Group on pharmaceuticals are attracting increasingly more attention of the international competition community – collaborating, we find the most optimal solutions to the existing problems”, commented Andrey Tsarikovsky.
Developing the discussion, Stats-Secretary, Deputy Head of FAS pointed out that decreasing drug prices is a priority for Russian antimonopoly body. He informed the Italian colleagues that the Government of the Russian Federation supports FAS in such work1.
According to Roberto Rustichelli, recently Italy’s Competition Authority has robustly “stepped up to the pharmaceutical sector in light of its significance not only from the economic point of view but also in terms of raising the level of healthcare and decreasing drug prices”.
Another item on the agenda was digitalization of the modern economy, which sets new challenges to antimonopoly regulators. The parties emphasized the need to modernize the antimonopoly law and improve the current methods to counter anticompetitive practices amidst digital mainstreaming for the purposes of collecting and analyzing big data, exposing potential violations and suppressing unlawful activities.
The parties also discussed the importance of strengthening international cooperation for the most efficient response to the challenges of digital economy. Andrey Tsarikovsky pointed out that cooperation between competition authorities plays an enormous role in investigating high-profile cross-border cases as well as global mergers, it shortens the timeline for considering petitions, and helps evaluate merger consequences as well as avoid undue risks.
“We agreed to continue cooperation with Italy’s Competition Authority in the course of analyzing expected global mergers, particularly, under the frame of the Working Group on pharmaceuticals, especially since global mergers in the pharmaceutical sector are growing”, summed up Andrey Tsarikovsky.
Finally, the parties expressed hope for expanding collaboration in 2020 and agreed to continue active cooperation at various international platforms, particular, FAS events in the course of St Petersburg International Legal Forum, St Petersburg International Economic Forum and the Competition Week, which takes place in Kaliningrad on 14 - 17 September 2020.
1 № 1683 Decree of 16 December 2019 approves the rules for mandatory re-registration in 2019–2020 of the registered ceiling ex-work manufacturer’s prices for the drugs from the list of vital and essential medicines, and determines the procedure for calculating ceiling ex-work drug price when it is reregistered for the purposes of decreasing it.