INTERACTION AND EXPERIENCE EXCHANGE IS A DRIVING FORCE FOR IMPROVING REGULATION

FAS representatives took part in the events of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on 25 – 27 February 2020

On 26 February 2020, OECD conducted the Competition Day in Paris (France) for the second time. FAS was represented by Deputy Head of the Unit for Especially Important Investigations, Anti-Cartel Department, Polina Melkoedova. Along with Russia, over 400 attendants from more than 40 countries of the world participated in the event.

Reports were given by the leading international experts in the field of competition. The key themes of the discussion included the prospects of regulating competition in the digital epoch, in particular, the specifics of regulating antimonopoly prohibitions in financial technologies and control over giant companies in the digital markets. The participants also looked into the role of competition authorities in approving mergers and acquisitions on dynamic markets and the role of competition on the labour markets.

On 25 February 2020, in the run-up to the Competition Day, FAS representatives took part in a workshop on vertical restrictions and mergers. Experts exchanged experiences in investigating and considering cases on vertical restrictions, discussed the types of restrictions and their impact upon the market, particularly, delineating online sales from traditional markets.

The final event was a workshop on trade agreements. Its participants discussed the role of competition authorities in the course of concluding trade agreements, the need to include competition-regulating provisions in trade agreements. Special attention was also paid to executing contractual obligations.

According to Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov, “FAS participation in OECD events is a unique opportunity for exchanging experience with foreign colleagues and developing a common understanding of the main problems and challenges of the new economy. Such meetings also mean jointly searching solutions to emerging problems in the field of antimonopoly regulation. For 30 years, the principles of openness are fundamental for developing the Russian antimonopoly body.  We believe that interaction and exchanging experiences is a driving force for improving both antimonopoly regulation and regulatory practice”.