FAS TOOK PART IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION FORUM IN PERU

The Authority is a member of the APEC Competition Policy and Law Group (CPLG)

CPLG meeting was a part of the "first cluster" of events within the framework of the Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM1) of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, which was held in Lima (Peru).

During the meeting, the participants discussed priority areas of work for 2024, as well as current and planned projects of the working group that contribute to the development and improvement of competition legislation in the economies of the Asia-Pacific region. Representatives of APEC competition authorities exchanged experiences on improving competition law and policy.

Anton Teslenko, Head of the Fiscal Control Department of the FAS Russia, made a report at the meeting of the expert working group. He told the participants of the event about the improvement of Russian antimonopoly legislation, measures taken in Russia to support the economy and business in modern conditions.

The entry into force in 2023 of the “fifth antimonopoly package” was noted, which includes a number of important changes aimed at improving the antimonopoly regulation of digital markets in terms of curbing abuse of dominant position, state control over economic concentration and suppression of anti-competitive agreements.

Anton Teslenko emphasized that the FAS Russia, as part of its activities, seeks to combine state control and the active use of soft law mechanisms. As a positive example of the application of this approach, the speaker cited the Principles of interaction between participants in digital markets, which are aimed at creating an institution of self-regulation. At the same time, the Antimonopoly Service strives to transfer this positive experience to the international level. In particular, in June 2023, the competition authorities of the CIS member states approved Model Principles and Standards for the activities of participants in digital markets in the CIS space. A similar document is currently being developed in the BRICS space.

The speaker also noted that in Russia today much attention is paid to measures to support and develop businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, active work in this direction is carried out within the framework of the National Competition Development Plan in the Russian Federation for 2021-2025.

As a result of the measures taken, the number of inspections of SMEs has decreased. In addition, at the initiative of the FAS Russia, SMEs can pay half of the amount of the administrative fine upon conclusion of anti-competitive agreements. The institute of warnings and precautions continues to be actively applied, and competition advocacy work is under way.

Within the framework of SOM1, representatives of the FAS Russia also participated in APEC seminars on the specifics of applying preventive and post-factum antimonopoly control of digital markets, as well as evaluating transactions of economic concentration in modern conditions.

At the end of the events, it was agreed to continue a substantive dialogue on all issues of interest at the APEC site, as well as to strengthen cooperation in order to bring practices closer and improve the effectiveness of antimonopoly regulation in APEC member states.