FAS COMMENTS FOR MASS MEDIA

On 13 December, FAS held a networking-session – “In a dialogue with the regulator. Verification of information”

The event had three sections: the first focused on the work of the antimonopoly body, the se3cond – verification of information and the third – on enhancing communicative skills.

In the welcoming address, Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov pointed out that the Federal Antimonopoly Service is an absolutely open body.

“If it is not legally protected secret, not insider information and not information that can harm state security – it becomes known to mass media on a same-day basis. This information policy and openness are specified in our regulatory acts”, said Andrey Tsyganov to the session participants – representatives of editorial teams of mass media.

Head of FAS Legal Department Artem Molchanov drew attention to impossibility of establish and develop economic relations without competition.

He emphasized: “Companies can be different – large, small, but they must operate in equal conditions and our task is to create such conditions. In 2017, the President of Russia approved the National Competition Development Plan that sets the principles of state competition policy”.

Creating equal conditions for business for doing business and developing competition requires improvements in the current law.  For instance, a draft law is passed in the III reading to ban unitary enterprises on competitive markets, draft laws on antimonopoly compliance - a system of preventing the risks of violating the antimonopoly law and on failure to present orders with regard to the authorities in judicial appeals are submitted to the State Duma. The Government of Russia is considering a draft law on reforming legal regulation of natural monopolies, drat laws on state regulation of prices (tariffs) and possibility for the Government to allow using results of intellectual activity with a consent of the patent-holders (Article  1360 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Talking about FAS efforts in the housing-and-utilities sector, Deputy Head of the specialized FAS Department, Anastasia Adonina pointed out that the antimonopoly body collects information about the tariffs for the housing-and-utilities services in regions practically in the online mode and controls their size and reasonableness.

“Housing-and-utilities are a very dynamic sector, and regulating it we protect public interests, the end-users of these services, clarified Anastasia Adonina.

Giving the word to a colleague, Alexander Fedyakov, Deputy Head of FAS Department for Regulating the Housing-and-Utilities Sector, Anastasia Adonina underlined that 2019 is announced a Year of Theater in Russia but for her Department it has become a year of solid household waste. In his turn, Alexander Fedyakov informed about the progress in the “garbage reform” in Russia, creating a regulatory framework, suppressing unfair selection of regional operators of solid household waste treatment.

He explained that “so far, FAS has checked tariff setting for waste treatment in nearly 40 regions of Russia, exposed some violations related to overrating indicators that are important in tariff setting. Now we are making a summary of this control practice so that in the future regulators do not commit violations”.

The section ended with a review of high-profile FAS cartel cases. According to Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department, Andrey Tenishev, collusions always increase prices, and in 85-90% it concerns anticompetitive agreements in the course of procurement.

Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department reminded that recently Vladivostok Mayor had been held criminally liable. “The Mayor was sentenced for bribery and abuse of office, but it is a consequence, the price cause is an anticompetitive agreement, that he joined with several companies, as a result of which a limited range of entities were able to get contracts from the Mayor’s Office under public procurement”.

“FAS has the powers to control legal entities and if they form anticompetitive agreements hold them administratively liable. We face a situation, however, when companies pay multi-million fines and then continue illegal operations putting them as costs. The situation can be resolved only by holding corporate executives criminally liable”, Разрешитьэтуситуациюможнотолькопривлечениемкуголовнойconcluded Andrey Tenishev.