ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE FIELD OF INTERNATIONAL ANTIMONOPOLY COOPERATION ARE IN THE FOCUS OF THE FAS RUSSIA

On December 17, the plenary session "30 Years of Antimonopoly Regulation in Russia" of VI International Online Conference Antimonopoly Policy: Science, Practice, Education was held in an online format

The plenary session was opened by Maxim Shaskolskiy, Head of the FAS Russia (link), and Igor Drozdov, Chairman of the Board of the SKOLKOVO Foundation.

The session was moderated by Sergey Puzyrevsky, Deputy Head of the FAS Russia.

“The topic of the plenary session was not chosen randomly: 30 years ago, significant changes in the regulation of economic relations took place in our country, and for the first time antimonopoly authorities were formed. Today, leading Russian and foreign experts in the field of antimonopoly regulation are in touch with us,” Sergey Puzyrevsky said.

Igor Drozdov emphasized that in the light of the revolutionary changes that digitalization has brought to the modern world, the state's competition policy should respond to them. FAS, according to the speaker, correctly found two pain points. First, the development of digital platforms, thanks to which it is not evident what can be considered market dominance. Secondly, there is an important aspect that is rather unique to the Russian Federation – the long-standing dispute over how monopoly rights relate to intellectual property.

In turn, Arman Shakkaliev, member of the Board (Minister) for competition and Antimonopoly regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission, outlined key priorities in the field of competition in cross-border markets. The important tools to achieve these goals will be interaction with business, the introduction of antimonopoly compliance and the development of the digital economy.

Theodor Thanner, Director General of the Austrian Federal Competition Authority, devoted his speech to the role of international cooperation in restoring the world economy and protecting competition through mutual visits, exchange of non-confidential information, conclusion of memoranda, technical support, holding conferences and seminars and working groups of UNCTAD.

Vladimir Koltovich, Minister of Antimonopoly regulation and trade of the Republic of Belarus, noted that for 30 years the Russian Federation has created antimonopoly legislation that meets the best international practices, and today the FAS Russia is one of the authoritative competition authorities of the world’s top 10 law enforcement authorities. 

He expressed gratitude to Russian colleagues for support and successful, friendly cooperation.

“MART, as a young agency, learns and looks up to the work of the FAS. Our friendship is of practical importance. Today, roaming between our countries has been canceled, using your reference pricing methodology, we have reduced the price for medicines. We speak in international fora together. Thanks to the initiative of the employees of the Russian Authority, the Interstate Council for Antimonopoly Policy is working. And there are many joint projects ahead. Time, as they say, has chosen us. Right now, more than ever before, we will have to quickly solve the problems of rising prices, limiting competition, closing markets and many other issues that the global economy carries,” Vladimir Koltovich concluded.

Alberto Eimler, Chairman of the Working Group on Competition and Regulation of the OECD Competition Committee, reviewed the organization's 30-year cooperation with Russian competition authorities. A Memorandum of Understanding between the two agencies was signed and regular meetings are held.

“We had a lot of points of convergence. Our agency was established on the basis of the European law principles, which largely coincides with Russian law, the difference was in law enforcement, right there we were looking for a common language. Now, 20 years later, in the digital economy, the situation has fundamentally changed, there were many national differences before, and now there are digital platforms that work the same in Russia and in the world as a whole,” Alberto Eimler said.

Deputy Head of the Competition Commission of South Africa Hardin Ratshisusu spoke about the cooperation between the FAS Russia and the relevant agency in South Africa. Cooperation has significantly strengthened in recent years: in 2016, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in St. Petersburg, which established a mechanism for personnel exchange and joint research.

“Our cooperation will definitely continue on international platforms in mutually beneficial areas, as it brings tangible results. Within the framework of BRICS, it is proposed to accelerate the activities of working groups, especially in the context of rapid development of markets,” Hardin Ratshisusu said.

Teresa Moreira, Head of Competition and Consumer Policy at UNCTAD, thanked FAS Russia for its contribution to international antimonopoly law:

“The FAS has brought a lot to the work of UNCTAD, it is a serious, highly experienced agency that develops interesting digital tools necessary for antimonopoly practice. You interact with the CIS and BRICS countries, with UNCTAD, and develop research activities.”

Alexey Ivanov, Director of the Institute for law and development HSE-SKOLKOVO, Director of the International Center for competition law and policy of the BRICS, noted that the Antimonopoly law is now at the turn of the epochs:

“Thirty years of Antimonopoly regulation in Russia is an important milestone that pushes to revise approaches to the protection of competition in accordance with the new socio-economic reality,” the speaker said.

According to him, for more than five years, the BRICS Antimonopoly Center has been building a sustainable community for expert support of the work of the BRICS competition authorities. The scientific reports of the Center on Food and Digital Markets have become a significant step in reformatting the regulatory agenda in the antimonopoly sphere. The result of the food project was, in particular, a change in approaches to the coordination of economic concentration transactions on a global scale in developing markets.