Intensifying cooperation between competition authorities of Russia and Uzbekistan
Deputy Head of FAS Sergey Puzyrevskiy took part in the Regional Forum “Developing private business is the main factor of competition advancement” focusing on “Expanding export of fruit and vegetable products and developing competition” on 27 April 2017 in Samarkand (Uzbekistan).
On 27 April, Sergey Puzyrevskiy attended an official ceremony of opening an exhibition of export-oriented fruit and vegetable products from the Samarkand region. He made a presentation about “The main aspects of international FAS cooperation”, outlining the latest changes in antimonopoly and tariff regulation in Russia in the past years, particularly, assigning tariff regulation functions to Russian antimonopoly body, and the amendments to the Law “On Protection of Competition” under the frame of the “forth antimonopoly package” and the “anti-crisis package” which will reduce the burden upon small business in Russia.
He specially emphasized FAS executing the OECD recommendations to support the status of competition policy in Russia and stable FAS ranking of “Global Competition Review”. This performance ranking is formed based on an annual survey of global leaders among competition authorities. It covers only the leading competition authorities whose enforcement practice conform to the high world standards.
The ranking is based on evaluation by independent experts representing foreign business and legal communities on the criteria devised by GCR.
Evaluation is done using the 5-score scale: competition authorities are assigned the following scores (starts): Elite, Very Good, Good and Satisfactory.
2015 GCR Ranking included only 36 competition authorities out of 145 existing in the world. FAS has been rated by GCR since 2005.
Sergey Puzyrevskiy pointed out that the rightness of FAS objectives in international antimonopoly cooperation with competition authorities of foreign countries is also confirmed by FAS position in the performance ranking of competition authorities compiled by “Global Competition Review”.
It is achieved through the national legislative framework that is continuously improved in line with OECD recommendations, bilateral intergovernmental and inter-departmental agreements, multilateral agreements under the umbrellas of various international organizations (CIS, EAEU, BRICS, the EC, APEC, etc.)
Sergey Puzyrevskiy outlined the most high-profile cases investigated by FAS recently. He specially described the case against Google, cases against linear container shippers, etc.
On 27 April, executing the arrangements reached at the 18th session of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Uzbekistan, on 15 February 2017 in Tashkent, FAS and the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Support of Privatized Enterprises and Competition Development signed the Memorandum of Understandings and Cooperation in the field of competition policy.
Signing the Memorandum is another important stage of cooperation between FAS and the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Support of Privatized Enterprises and Competition Development. The Memorandum determines the mechanisms of cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan. Apart for its traditional forms, such as consultations and non-confidential information exchange, the Memorandum helps organizing work through joint Working groups on studying competition issues, sharing experience on antimonopoly enforcement, exchanging opinions about multilateral aspects of international cooperation in the field of antimonopoly regulation and competition law.
The Memorandum also facilitates cooperation between the parties by engaging in the work of international organizations that deal with competition issues, including OECD, UNCTAD, ICN.
The forms of cooperation established by the Memorandum also encourage developments towards improving the antimonopoly law and enforcement in view of the best world practice, which will be instrumental to establishing uniform rules of doing business in Russia and Uzbekistan, while the cooperation mechanisms outlined in the Memorandum will enable, if necessary, to protect the interests of economic entities operating on Uzbek markets.