SERGEY PUZYREVSKIY: IN 2018, 89% OF COURTS CONFIRMED LEGITIMACY OF FAS DECISIONS

It is the best indicator in three years

“Over the past few years, judicial statistics on appealing FAS decisions has improved considerably”, said Deputy Head of FAS Sergey Puzyrevskiy at a meeting of Heads of competition agencies on 13 February in Budapest (Hungary).

Deputy Head of Russian competition authority gave comparative statistics: in 2016 the share of decisions reversed by Courts was 15.4%, in 2017 – 15.5, in 2018 - 11%.

“Thus, 89% of all FAS acts, appealed at Courts, were recognized legitimate”, emphasized Sergey Puzyrevskiy.

He also mentioned that in the past three years the number of appeals against FAS decisions also decreased. 69.8% FAS decisions were appealed at Courts in 2016, against 48.8% in 2018.

Sergey Puzyrevsky pointed out that several factors underlined such results of the work of the Antimonopoly Service.

First, radical modernization of the entire antimonopoly law in the last decade. Adopting four “antimonopoly packages” and anti-crisis amendments helped FAS to mover from “punitive” to preventative control.

Second, unification of legal approaches. For instance, in 2016-2018 the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation passed three reviews of judicial practices under the Law “On Protection of Competition” (No.135-FZ), the Law on contractual system (No.44-FZ) and the Law on procurement (No.223-FZ).

Third, in-house appeal is actively used: studying, summarizing and giving explanations on enforcement of the antimonopoly law and shaping unified practice in the Russian Federation.

“I’d like to point out that the efforts will continue. The National Competition Development Plan, approved by the Presidential Order, provides that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation will continue studying antimonopoly enforcement practice. Especially taking into account the changes on the markets that are happening due to digitalization of the economy”, informed Sergey Puzyrevskiy.

He said that competition authority in Russia has drafted the so-called “fifth digital antimonopoly package” as a response to the new economic challenges.

“Russia is the second country in the world where such amendments are drafted. They provide for new approaches to dominant position and control over economic concentration”, emphasized Sergey Puzyrevskiy.

Finally, Deputy Head of FAS thanked OECD Regional Competition Centre (RCC) for organizing the meeting, which allowed to share experience of Russian enforcement and to learn about new aspects of antimonopoly regulation in foreign countries.

Such meetings take place once a year to discuss work plans. During the period of FAS collaboration with OECD RCC, a number of joint events took place enabling to find out about the latest foreign directions of competition law and inform about Russian achievements in this field.