FAS summarized the intermediary results of a Public Declaration

In 6 months the Antimonopoly Service devised and agreed upon several projects under the frame of the Public Declaration.

One of the items of the Public Declaration is a concept of a draft Law “On the basic principles of state regulation of prices (tariffs)”. In August there was a consensus panel involving the interested federal executive bodies and representatives of the Expert Council under the Government of the Russian Federation. The Government approved the concept of the draft law in general. In the near future a Working Group will be formed to draft the law.

Another item of the Public Declaration is the Action Plan for “Developing Competition in Health Care”. The Action Plan is submitted to the Government; it provides for a set of measures to demonopolise the markets of medical services, medicinal drugs, medical products and maintenance of medical goods. Currently, the Action plan is being refined.

FAS, jointly with law enforcement and executive bodies*, the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Law and Development, High School of Economics – Skolkovo, the Academy of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation drafted a Convention “On countering cartels”. This objective is also included in the Public Declaration.

As an international legal act, the Convention is aimed at defining the principles and the basis for cooperation between the member-states to combat cartels at the international level.

So far, the concept of the draft Convention is approved by representatives of the members-states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Efforts are being undertaken to further advance the draft Convention within BRICS and the CIS.

A draft declaration of the CIS member-states is being devised on consolidating the efforts of the world community for efficient cartel countering.

FAS has also initiated drafting the Toolkit on international cooperation between competition authorities to counter restrictive business practices of large transnational corporations. The initiative was discussed at EAEU, CIS and BRICS as well as bilaterally with the leadership of foreign competition authorities.

FAS has already prepared a draft Toolkit, which is accessible for the purposes of public discussions. To refine the Toolkit text, Head of FAS Igor Artemiev proposed to form a special group under UNCTAD that can comprise all interested parties.

The Toolkit can become an appendix to Section F (“International Measures”) of UN Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices to be passed at the United Nations Conference to Review All Aspects of the Set in 2020.

The Antimonopoly Service settled upon and agreed with the Bank of Russia the FAS Order “On approving the Action Plan “Road Map”) for “Developing Competition on the Market of Financial Services). The Order is designed to reduce administrative barriers and prevent violations of the antimonopoly law by financial organizations, including insurance companies.

* The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Interior, the Investigations Committee of the Russian Federation, the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation.