BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre
BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre was initiated and is coordinated by the Skolkovo - Higher School of Economics Institute for Law and Development, a Moscow-based international think tank. The aim of the BRICS Competition Centre is to provide the meeting point for BRICS competition law research, ensure the scientific support the work of BRICS competition authorities and to promote a distinct BRICS competition law agenda for the global economy. BRICS Competition Centre collaborates with a number of partner institutions worldwide and relies on a group of internationally known competition law and policy experts, public intellectuals, industry and technology leaders.
Today, many key doctrines and theories of competition law are developed outside the BRICS countries and do not fully take in consideration the interests and specificities of BRICS countries. Often, issues of inequality, broader public interests, the need to accelerate economic development by increasing access to modern technologies and the development goals of the BRICS countries are not fully considered in the theory of competition law that has emerged in developed countries.
To the extent that competition in the modern economy is global and the levels of global economic concentration have considerably increased in recent years, the BRICS countries, despite their great economic importance and growing share in the global economy, may not be in a position to efficiently counteract the abuse of market power and other forms of anticompetitive behaviour by these global players. The importance of this area of cooperation was noted in the Ufa Declaration adopted at the end of the 7th BRICS Summit in July 2015.
The interests of the BRICS countries in protecting global competition, equal conditions for global market access for all market actors, and in protecting the interests of their consumers should be in their hands. Given the significant differences in the goals, substance of competition laws and the enforcement systems in the BRICS countries, as well as their broader socio-economic conditions, a possible transition to joint investigations and the exchange of confidential information will require a gradual growth of trust between the various competition authorities. Furthermore, modern antitrust regulation is based on a high degree of scientific expertise. The acceleration of technological development and globalization, entails a significant transformation of markets, the emergence of new forms of competitive struggle, in the context of platforms and ecosystems, increasing the importance of specialized knowledge in the development of effective laws for the prevention of anticompetitive practices and the principles of their application. Thus, the creation of the BRICS Competition Law and Policy Center is aiming to provide a platform for close cooperation of BRICS competition authorities and leading academics in the field. The work of the BRICS Competition Centre will allow to increase the interaction in the work of the competition authorities of the BRICS countries, thus enhancing their cooperation, and to bring together policy makers from all BRICS countries when deciding the agenda for future enforcement action. It will also aim to improve the qualified expertise in BRICS competition law systems on key issues of global economy, especially in the face of growing technological and information inequality.
Information source: http://bricscompetition.org/