FAS AND THE LARGEST IT COMPANIES SIGNED THE PRINCIPLES OF INTERACTION OF DIGITAL MARKETS PLAYERS

To recall, at the end of 2021, FAS and digital markets participants developed and approved the basic principles of fair behavior in digital markets at the site of the Expert Council for the Development of Competition in the field of information technology.

Today, the memorandum of accession to these principles was signed by the Head of FAS Mr. Maxim Shaskolskiy and representatives of 1C, Avito, AliExpress Russia, Wildberries, VK, Lamoda, Ozon, Russoft, Beber, Cian, Yandex and the Association of E-commerce Companies.

The document provides for self-regulation mechanisms, which imply that digital market participants voluntarily do not carry out unfair practices harmful to consumers, competitors and other parties in line with certain principles.

The principle of reasonable openness of digital platforms implies free access to information about search results ranking mechanisms. The principle of avoiding expansive and ambiguous formulations in the rules of operation of digital platforms eliminates opaque rules in the user agreements of services that allow blocking and deleting accounts without warnings.

Noteworthy, the principles focus not only competition concerns, but also on consumer protection.

The principles are developed on the basis of the practice of FAS and competition authorities of other countries and take into account the full range of violations of competition law currently identified or investigated in the world.

At the same time, the application of competition law to anti-competitive practices of, inter alia, digital platforms investigated in Russia and globally, remains an important aspect of the regulation of digital markets.

“For the further development of the industry, self-regulation mechanisms are important, without «rigid» regulatory intervention, as well as a balanced and equal approach to market participants. It is necessary to pay special attention to creating favorable conditions for consumer and small and medium-sized businesses”, - Maxim Shaskolskiy said.