EAEU IS A BACKBONE PLATFORM FOR DISCUSSING IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF ANTIMONOPOLY REGULATION

A fair roaming model and consolidating the efforts of the global community to efficiently counter international cartels were in the focus of attention at a meeting in Moscow

On 28 February 2020, the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) brought together Heads of competent (antimonopoly) bodies of the member-states of the Eurasian Economic Union and a member of the Collegium - EEC Minister on Competition and Antimonopoly Regulation, Serik Zhumangarin, for a regular session in Moscow.

FAS representatives spoke out on some questions important for antimonopoly regulation.

The leader of the FAS delegation, Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Sergey Puzyrevsky, emphasized the work of the Eurasian Economic Commission and EAEU member-states towards improving the Union law in the part of competition policy, result-oriented efforts to suppress violations of the antimonopoly law, efficiency of which facilitates collaboration between the competition authorities of the EAEU states.

In the course of the discussions, Sergey Puzyrevsky highlighted such an essential point as the need for further work on introducing a possibility within EAEU to apply the international principles of exhausting exclusive trademark rights for particular types of goods.

“Absence of parallel import of particular goods to our countries creates preconditions for market monopolization. The markets of medicinal drugs is a striking example”, said Deputy Head of FAS.

Head of FAS Department for Regulating Communications and Information Technologies, Elena Zaeva, informed about international experiences on abolishing roaming in interstate associations.

She explained that international roaming and its regulation require comprehensive assessments by both the regulators and communications providers, with a special emphasis on competition protection.

Elena Zaeva familiarized the event participants with the Strategic Guidelines devised by the International Telecommunications Union. The Guidelines contain the most important rules for the national regulation, including, on the one hand, bilateral, multilateral and regional regulation, and on the other, the rules for mobile networks operators and service providers.

“The Guidelines give the basic conduct norms for regulators and communications providers as well as particular regulatory blocks, such as regulatory frameworks, taxation, pricing. Special attention is paid to the need to develop and strenuously encourage competition on the market, as well as to pricing and consumer protection. Considering development of the conditions for fair roaming, we suggest to take into account the recommendations issued by the International Telecommunications Union and study carefully the performance specifics of the mobile communications services markets in our countries to choose the best model for fair roaming”, concluded Elena Zaeva.

HHead of FAS Department for International Economic Cooperation, Lesya Davydova, informed the colleagues about the forthcoming Conference to Review the UN Competition Set in 2020 where the Guidelines and Procedures under Section F of the Set will be approved. Another important item on the Conference agenda will be countering cross-border cartels.

She reminded that in 2017 FAS had raised a question to UNCTAD experts about the need to devise efficient tools that competition authorities can use together to combat cross-border violations of the antimonopoly law.

“This work is practically completed. At a UNCTAD meeting in Geneva in July 2019, the document, which FAS had been drafting with its EAEU colleagues for three years, was approved, and a resolution was passed to adopt it at the VIII Conference to Review the UN Competition Set in July 2020. We hope that everything will be successful and the new document will form the necessary foundation for considering cross-border violations”, explained Lesya Davydova.

She expressed her gratitude to the colleagues for support and participation in UNCTAD Conferences. Head of FAS Department for International Economic Cooperation specially emphasized the role of the colleagues from the antimonopoly authorities of the Republics of Kazakhstan and Belarus who had worked in the project group drafting the document.

The second initiative described by the FAS representative related to consolidation of the efforts of the global community for efficient countering international cartels. Lesya Davydova pointed out that the agenda of the VIII Conference to Review the UN Competition Set includes a session on suppressing cross-border cartels. FAS will organize the session and act as its moderator.

“The forthcoming session on combating cartels will help determine the directions of the efforts in this important field at the international level. Actively participating in this work, the antimonopoly bodies of the EAEU member-states will be able to make weighty contributions in resolving the existing issues in this field”, summed up Lesya Davydova.