UNCTAD APPROVED THE GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
The Guidelines will be of practical value for competition authorities from all jurisdictions, especially developing countries
On 12 July 2019, at the 18th session of UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts (IGE) on Competition Law and Policy in Geneva (Switzerland), competition authorities of UNCTAD member-states approved the text of the Guidelines and procedures on international cooperation under Section F of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices.
The Guidelines are drafted by UNCTAD Discussion Group on international cooperation formed upon a FAS initiative in 2017 at the 16th IGE UNCTAD, where Head of FAS Igor Artemiev had put forward an idea to adopt a global document formalizing mechanisms and methods of cooperation between competition authorities in investigating cases.
For two years, the Discussion Group has been considering the initiative and studying obstacles facing competition authorities in collaboration for investigating complex antimonopoly cases with a cross-border effect, particularly against large transnational corporations.
A draft of the Guidelines and procedures was presented for broad discussions on 10 July 2019 at the special UNCTAD session on International Cooperation, where Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov was a rapporteur.
Deputy Head of FAS stated that “Discussion Group, which comprises over 50 competition authorities representing all continents, a consensus is regarding the text of the document titled the Guidelines and Procedures under Section F of the UN Set on Competition ”.
Other speakers included Associate Director, US Federal Trade Commission’s Office of International Affairs, Russell Damtoft; Deputy Secretary General for International Affairs, Japan Fair Trade Commission, Saadaki Suasono; Deputy Managing Director, Austria’s Federal Competition Authority, Natalie Harsdorf; and Director, International Affairs, Italy’s Competition Authority, Alessandra Tonazzi. The documents was supported by delegations from Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Columbia, Germany, the Eurasian Economic Commission, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, Serbia, Sri-Lanka, South Africa and the UK.
“We are confident that the Guidelines will be of practical value for competition authorities especially in developing countries that do not have vast experience of collaboration with foreign enforcers and are non members of OECD or ICN”, pointed out Andrey Tsyganov.
The approved Guidelines are included in the agenda and must be officially adopted at the UN Competition Conference on reviewing the UN Competition Set in 2020. Other items on the Conference agenda will cover competitive neutrality, countering cross-border cartels and competition in the digital sector.