ANDREY TSYGANOV: A RECIPE FOR SUCCESSFUL INTERACTION BETWEEN COMPETITION AGENCIES HAS BEEN FOUND

Deputy Head of the FAS Russia Andrey Tsyganov made closing remarks at the workshop of FAS Russia and the Hungarian Regional Competition Centre OECD (RCC OECD-GVH)

Virtual seminar on “Enforcement cooperation in cross-border cases” became the 9th jointly organized event.

“The seminar once again confirmed the importance and usefulness of the OECD-GVH RCC platform for holding such international events. The format we use, when only interested parties meet in a narrow circle to discuss issues on the stated topic, allows us to hear interesting reports from outstanding foreign experts, as well as to carry out a mutually beneficial exchange of experience and practical knowledge in the field of competition policy,” Andrey Tsyganov emphasized.

The event was attended by representatives of the CIS countries, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, Latin America, in particular, experts from Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Uzbekistan, as well as international organizations such as the OECD and the Eurasian Economic Commission.

During the seminar, participants were able to discuss the main aspects of cooperation in cross-border cases, consider the initiatives of leading international organizations, as well as examples of formal and informal cooperation in law enforcement.

On the first day of the seminar, representatives of Competition Authorities of Italy and Mexico spoke about practical interaction in law enforcement using the example of the European Competition Network, as well as about the problems in the field of cooperation faced by the Competition Authority of Mexico. Besides, representatives of the Department for International Economic Cooperation of the FAS Russia shared Russian experience of cooperation in law enforcement in the CIS countries, and also noted the new challenges that the Agency faces when approving global transactions and interacting with foreign antimonopoly regulators during consideration.

The role of international organizations in forming the basis for effective and fruitful cooperation was the key topic of the second day of the virtual workshop. In her speech, the representative of the OECD spoke about the joint OECD-ICN project on international cooperation in law enforcement. Expert from the Italian Competition Authority spoke about the tools and capabilities of the ICN, one of the main international organizations dealing with the application of competition law. The representative of the FAS Russia noted the Agency's work on the UNCTAD platform: in particular, the initiative to adopt Guidelines and procedures for international cooperation in accordance with Section F of the UN Competition Complex, which contain tools for international cooperation to counter cross-border violations of competition rules. Mexico's antimonopoly regulator also shared its experience in handling cross-border cases.

During the event, the experts also shared their memories related to their first steps at the OECD events.

“Foreign experts from the OECD countries helped us grow and shared their experience. Already in the early 90's, owing to cooperation with the OECD, we were able to build a kind of competitive network together with the Antimonopoly authorities of the CIS countries, and then in the Eurasian economic space. Later, with the signing of the partnership and cooperation Agreement with the EU, we continued to develop international cooperation, and this interaction gave us a huge experience for the development of Russian competition policy. Another important stage was the process of the Russian Federation's accession to the OECD, in which Russia was able to confirm that its competition policy and legislation met the standards of this authoritative organization in terms of competition policy. Today, 30 years later, cooperation with leading international organizations and integration associations, such as the OECD, the EU, UNCTAD, APEC, and BRICS, allows representatives of the FAS Russia to talk about their experience and share practical knowledge, because we were able to accumulate all the international experience, but at the same time go our own way,” said Andrey Tsyganov.

In his closing speech, the Deputy Head of the FAS Russia thanked all the participants of the seminar and wished Hungarian colleagues, who will have to work hard to prepare for the annual ICN Conference in 2021, successful holding of the forthcoming event.