THE HEAD OF THE FAS RUSSIA PRESENTED THE ANNUAL REPORT ON THE STATE OF COMPETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The report analyzes the main results and achievements in the field of state competition policy

In 2020 in the current conditions, digitalization has become the main tool for economic development.

The Head of the FAS Russia said that the intensive development of information technologies, in addition to positive aspects, can also lead to the creation of anti-competitive practices. In this regard, the FAS Russia has developed and submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation the “fifth antimonopoly package”. Its adoption will create legal mechanisms to counter abuses of market power and ensure the effectiveness of antimonopoly control measures in modern “digital” markets.

Maxim Shaskolsky also drew attention to the fact that 2020 was the final year for the implementation of the National Competition Development Plan and the roadmap for the development of competition in economic sectors.

Close attention was paid to the healthcare sector. Due to the improvement of the regulatory framework, new mechanisms have been created to synchronize prices in the Russian Federation for vital and essential medicines with prices in reference countries for Russia.

Following the results of the mandatory re-registration in 2019 and 2020 of all registered prices for vital and essential medicines, the FAS Russia revised more than 14,000 prices, of which more than 7000 were reduced by an average of 35%. Savings for citizens and the budget as a result of lower prices will amount to at least 35 billion rubles annually.

Another one of the main activities of the FAS Russia in 2020 was the control of tariffs of natural monopolies. Special attention was paid to tariffs in the field of solid municipal waste management. Through the efforts of the FAS of Russia in 2020, tariffs for the treatment of MSW were reduced in many subjects of the Russian Federation. For example, in the Krasnodar region the decrease was 28%, in the Pskov region - 16%, in the Krasnoyarsk region - 14%, in the Nizhny Novgorod region - 5%.

In the field of electric power industry, the FAS Russia has been regulating tariffs for  six years on the principle of “inflation minus”, which allows reducing the burden on consumers of services of natural monopolies.

Maxim Shaskolsky noted that the establishment of economically sound regulated tariffs is a tool to increase efficiency, reduce costs of business entities and stimulate competition, as well as helps to attract investment in regulated areas of activity.

One of the notable achievements is the abolition of national and intra-network roaming, thereby eliminating the unreasonable difference in tariffs for cellular services when traveling in the Russian Federation. As a result, savings for consumers amounted to about 6 billion rubles and at the same time the volume of the provided communication services was increased.

Further qualitative changes are necessary for the development of competition. Concluding his report, the Head of the FAS stressed that the measures laid down in the new National Competition Development Plan for the period 2021-2025 are aimed at solving the main systemic and sectoral problems, creating favorable conditions for private business, eliminating administrative barriers and distortions of the competitive environment.

“The implementation of the state policy on the development of competition is one of the key directions and factors of economic growth. The state policy on development of competition cannot be considered as a separate process in isolation from the complex of measures implemented within the framework of the strategy for the development of the country's economy as a whole, as well as the national development goals of the Russian Federation,”