RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRICS COMPETITION LAW AND POLICY CENTER

On September 24, 2020, the Government of the Russian Federation issued an order to support the activities of the International BRICS Competition Law and Policy Center as an independent subdivision in the structure of the Higher School of Economics.

The proposal to expand cooperation between competition authorities and the scientific community of the BRICS countries was formed back in 2016 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of competition law and policy of the BRICS countries, which opened up new opportunities for joint work of the five antitrust regulators.

Such work in a wide range of areas of joint activity required the conduct of serious analytical and expert research, which would make it possible to increase the efficiency of joint work of competition authorities in socially significant markets.

On the initiative of the FAS Russia, with the support of the competition authorities of Brazil, India, China and South Africa, International BRICS Competition Law and Policy Center was formed on the basis of the Institute for Law and Development of the Higher School of Economics (http://www.bricscompetition.org/).

The mission of the Center is to unite the competition authorities and scientific institutions of the BRICS countries into a common state-academic partnership for a deeper understanding of the processes of the global economy and the formulation of the positions of antitrust regulators in shaping the international agenda on key issues of competition policy and legislation.

The Center's tasks include maintaining a permanent web platform, conducting joint research in the field of antitrust regulation in socially significant BRICS markets, providing methodological and expert support for the activities of BRICS working groups, as well as preparing scientific reports and conducting applied research.

During the short period of the Center's existence, it has provided significant support to the antimonopoly regulators of the BRICS countries in conducting research on socially significant markets, having organized large-scale international research on global food chains and digital markets.

In order to build the capacity of the Center, in September 2020, the Government of the Russian Federation adopted an order to ensure the activities of the International BRICS Competition Law and Policy Center.

“Among the strategic tasks of the Center is further research work based on the priorities and needs of the BRICS antimonopoly authorities, which will be used by us in investigating cross-border violations and considering global transactions of economic concentration, developing new approaches to antitrust regulation in the context of a global economic change, which may lie as a basis for new standards in competition law and politics on a global scale”, concluded Lesya Davydova, Head of the Department for International Economic Cooperation of the FAS Russia.