Preliminary findings and preparing studies in the fields of housing construction and the agro-industrial complex in the CIS
On 15 March 2017, a FAS delegation took part in the 32nd session of the Headquarters on Joint Investigations of Violations of the Antimonopoly Law of the CIS Member States (the Headquarters)
Russian delegation was led by Deputy Head of FAS Anatoly Golomolzin,who has been in charge of the Headquarters for more than ten years.
The session started with considering the results of drafting a Report on “State support of agriculture: the issues of competition”, presented by Head of FAS Department for Control over Chemical industry and Agro-Industrial Complex, Anna Mirochinenko.
“The state support of agriculture plays an important role in steady advancement of the agrarian sector and food product security in the CIS states as well as enhancing competitiveness of agricultural products on both domestic and international markets”, pointed out Anna Mirochinenko. “At the same time, to enhance efficiency of using budgetary funds aimed to support agriculture, it is necessary to factor in competition aspects in allocating the funds and devising the relevant support measures. It is those facts that predetermined the need for the Head quarters to study the issue, the result of which is the draft Report”.
The antimonopoly bodies of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Moldova, Russia and Tajikistan were involved in drafting the Report.
“Analysis of foreign experience shows the need to move from the old forms of support (subsidies, loan interest) to the new methods of economic stimulation of investments, developing agricultural regions. Also experience of CIS countries should be employed wider: in the field of antimonopoly control of subsidies, exchange trading with agricultural products and other areas. The antimonopoly bodies should pay special control over the state of competition on the seeds market, where there are various methods of forming world giants that can restrict competition on the national markets, particularly, in CIS”, pointed out Anatoly Golomolzin.
Having discussed the draft Report, it was decided to recommend members of the Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy to submit the report to the CIS Executive Committee to be considered in accord with the established procedure.
The Headquarters supported FAS proposal on expediency of a joint investigation of the seed market by the antimonopoly bodies of the CIS member states, presented in the recommendations of the draft Report on “State support of agriculture: the issues of competition”.
The Headquarters considered the progress in studying the markets of economy-class housing construction in the CIS member states. The event participants exchanged information about the latest changes in regulation over construction and experiences of antimonopoly regulation in this field.
Anatoly Golomolzin summed up the discussion: “The view of antimonopoly bodies will enable to evaluate the long unsolved issues in a fresh new way, and propose effective solutions. To a considerable extent the high costs of housing construction are determined by the costs of construction-and assembling works (including the need to review the procedure for using the base charges), connection to infrastructures facilities, complexity of drafting design-and-estimate documentation, and numerous administrative barriers. Exchanging experience in solving those and other issues, systematizing the employed and proposed measures are essential and will be useful to all countries”.
The session also looked into the progress of studying the markets of aggregates production in the CIS member states. The report on the issue was delivered by Head of FAS Department for Industry Control, Nelli Galimkhanova. In the follow-up discussion participants emphasized the special importance of the study in view of using aggregates in construction funded from the budget.
The antimonopoly bodies of Kirgizia and Kazakhstan, with FAS involvement, undertook efforts to solve the issue of traffic transmission in data transfer networks from Kirgizia and Kazakhstan; the goal was achieved successfully. “The situation shows the need to undertake preventative measures. To this purpose, it is proposed that the Headquarters and the Regional Commonwealth in Telecommunications should elaborate the fair principles of telecommunications services, particularly, traffic transmission in data transfer networks”, explained the Head of Russian delegation.
Finally, it was confirmed that the Headquarters should conduct a new study: on the markets of medical equipment in the CIS member states. The decision on its expediency was made at the 45th meeting of the Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy (ICAP) upon a proposal of the Ministry of the republic of Belarus for Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade.
Later on the outcome of the Headquarters’ session were presented at ICAP meeting in Chisinau commemorating the 10th anniversary of establishing the antimonopoly authority in the Republic of Moldova.