BRICS EXPERTS ARE READY FOR MORE INTENSE COOPERATION WITH THE ANTIMONOPOLY BODIES

On 16 September 2019, the “0” day of  the VI BRICS Competition Conference, BRICS Antimonopoly Centre brought together at Higher School of Economics more than 40 leading researchers from BRICS and Europe to take part at the “Competition Protection Policy in the Digital Epoch” International Academic Workshop. Attendees were legal practitioners, undergraduate and post-graduate students, lecturers from Moscow universities, and participants of BRICS Competition Conference.

The main objective of the event, as the event co-chairs, Director of BRICS Antimonopoly Centre and the Institute of Law and Development, higher School of Economics – Skolkovo, Alexei Ivanov, and Prof. Ioannis Lianos, University College London, underlined in their welcoming remarks, was free opinion exchange on the most pressing issues of competition protection in the digital reality, in-depth detailed discussion, not limited by a tight schedule.

The workshop demonstrated that the academic community all over the world, in BRICS as well as Europe and the US, pay considerable attention to digitalization, this research direction is now a priority for all. Scholars work on various aspects of this new for antitrust phenomenon: network effects, digital platforms, big data, the Internet of Things. The academic community outlines problems and challenges related to development of digital environment, and devises proposals and recommendations, which can be put forward to enforcers and will be used to transform regulation. The results of academic discussions on the “0” day were later discussed during the main Conference programme.

Director of BRICS Antimonopoly Centre and the Institute of Law and Development, higher School of Economics – Skolkovo, Alexei Ivanov:

“In a year of the work of BRICS Antimonopoly Centre, we have formed sustainable community of antimonopoly experts from our countries anda productive environment for continued intellectual exchange: expert examination, thoughts and ideas. One can state that BRICS antimonopoly community is being united at all levels: intense academic cooperation, institutional cooperation at the level of agencies, and active use of analytical resources of the academic environment by enforcers – all this demonstrates that we have reached an absolutely new cycle of cooperation. The work on the report on competition protection in the digital economy [presented on 19 September] showed how high is a demand from the BRICS community for studying digitalization issues and elaborating common approaches to regulating this sphere.  Even though we tried to give the important “digital” issues to the maximum in this large-scale Report, a lot of aspects still require detailed review, and BRICS Antimonopoly Centre plans new research projects in this area”.