LESYA DAVYDOVA: INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION HELPS COMPETITION AGENCIES MEET GLOBAL CHALLENGES

The Head of the Department for International Economic Cooperation of the FAS Russia Lesya Davydova told about the Guidelines and procedures for international cooperation at the joint workshop of FAS Russia and the OECD Regional Competition Center

During her speech, Lesya Davydova noted that the key goal in developing a new document on the Guidelines and procedures for international cooperation was to generalize modern mechanisms of international cooperation that would meet the interests of most countries of the world, regardless of their socio-economic development

“This is why this initiative was introduced at the UNCTAD platform, which brings together 195 countries around the world and helps to find solutions to the competition problems that developing and poor countries often face. The UN set of principles and rules on the control of restrictive business practices was adopted 40 years ago in 1980. It contains section F “International measures”, which provides for the possibility of consultations between competition authorities on specific cases at the UNCTAD site. After studying this document, we understood that the cooperation mechanisms prescribed in it are not enough, and in 2017 in Geneva (Switzerland), within the framework of the 16th session of the intergovernmental group of experts on competition of UNCTAD, the Head of the FAS Russia Igor Artemyev presented the idea of developing a new document on international cooperation of competition agencies within the UN,” the speaker said.

Preparation of the new document began in 2017 within the framework of a specially created Discussion group, which included the FAS Russia. The draft document was developed on the basis of the best practices of international cooperation between competition authorities, the developments of OECD and ICN.

“In 2017, the Intergovernmental group of experts on competition of UNCTAD approved a consensus decision on the adoption of Guidelines and procedures for international cooperation by the 8th UN conference on competition. This document was approved by the resolution of the 8th Conference, which took place on October 19-23, 2020, and is now publicly available on the UNCTAD website,” Lesya Davydova said.

Key guidelines and procedures include promoting mutual trust and understanding of the regulatory framework, establishing contacts with other competition authorities, establishing specific mechanisms and procedures for investigating specific cross-border violations of competition rules in order to improve the effectiveness of law enforcement, and promoting younger agencies with no practical experience in organizing cooperation.

“The document aims to improve the effectiveness of investigations by reducing duplication of work. It sets out specific mechanisms and procedures for investigating cross-border violations of competition rules,” Lesya Davydova explained.

The speaker told in detail about each cooperation tool set out in the Guidelines and procedures.

“The tools of international cooperation include such mechanisms as procedural aspects of establishing primary contacts, mechanisms for further interaction, agreeing on deadlines, applying the confidentiality waiver (waver), discussing the merits and deciding on cases,” the speaker added.

The speaker also noted that a separate section of the document was devoted to the role of UNCTAD in promoting cooperation in accordance with section F of the UN Competition Complex. She said that the UNCTAD Secretariat was intended to assist authorities, especially those from developing countries and countries with economies in transition, in establishing and maintaining contacts with other competition authorities. In addition, if necessary, UNCTAD can assist in developing confidentiality provisions, as well as in building mutual trust between bodies, maintaining a list of contact persons, and periodically reviewing the list of materials of international and multilateral organizations.

“I would like to note that the work on the Guidelines and procedures is an example of international cooperation, demonstrating that with the desire, trust and good will, we can overcome any difficulties. We are convinced that further work on distribution knowledge on the adopted Guidelines and procedures in accordance with Section F of the UN Competition Complex and their practical application by competition authorities will help solve the problems they face in the modern world,” the representative of the Russian Antimonopoly Authority concluded.