FAS: WORK ON UPDATING ADVERTISING LEGISLATION WILL CONTINUE WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF EXPERT COMMUNITY

It was stated at the antimonopoly forum of the Association of Corporate Lawyers by Karina Taukenova, Deputy Head of FAS Russia

She also noted that the specialists of FAS Russia and the Association of Corporate Lawyers worked together to prepare clarifications for market participants and to analyze the state of competition in various markets. It contributes to the formation of a uniform approach in law enforcement practice.

Oksana Kuznetsova, Head of the Department for Cooperation with Regional Offices and Coordination of Projects for the Development of Competition of FAS Russia, spoke about the work of the authority on the mechanism of antimonopoly compliance. It contributes to improving the efficiency of companies through the introduction of a risk-based approach. At the moment FAS Russia has received 97 applications for compliance approval.

Maria Babikova, Head of Department for Industry Control of FAS Russia, reported on the adjustment of the Principles of Economic Analysis of Pricing Practices by the authority. FAS Russia has developed a new approach according to which in analyzing the pricing of dominant economic entities, priority is given to the balance of supply and demand in the domestic market.

Anton Teslenko, Head of Fiscal Control Department of FAS Russia, pointed out that the anti-cartel package was designed with the main objective of balancing interests of the state and business. Thus, the draft law, among other things, contains innovations in terms of exemption from criminal liability under certain conditions as well as a significant increase in income thresholds. In any case, the proposed changes will not affect honest entrepreneurs and will not increase the administrative burden on them.

Work continues on the digital transformation of cartel detection, said Oleg Dubkov, Deputy Head of the Anti-Cartel Department. He noted that the modernization of AIS "Anti-Cartel" will reduce the time for collecting evidence as well as reduce the level of procurement cartelization.

Nadezhda Sharavskaya, Head of the Department for Social Sphere, Trade and Non-productive Services of FAS Russia, said that in 2023 the authority plans to continue developing the practice of responsible pricing and expand the number of its participants. Despite the fact that market pricing currently operates in Russia, FAS Russia supports responsible behavior of retail chains within the framework of self-regulation.

Due to the work carried out by the authority with retailers, they have limited their margins on socially significant food products, which in the current economic conditions has helped to contain prices for the most popular products.

Mariana Matyashevskaya, Head of the Legal Department of FAS Russia, spoke about the importance of the institute of self-regulation in commodity markets. According to her speech, the trade and sales policy is an effective tool to protect companies from possible risks of violations of antimonopoly legislation, which increases the transparency of the organization's work and its openness to counterparties. FAS Russia welcomes the practice of forming trade and sales policies and assists businesses in preparing relevant documents.

Tatiana Nikitina, Head of the Department for Control of Advertising and Unfair Competition of FAS Russia, told participants of the event that in the conditions of the active development of the Internet, new requirements for online advertising arise. In particular, it is about the need to label advertising on the Internet, and this work will continue.

Elena Zaeva, Head of Department for Regulation of Telecommunications and Information Technology of FAS Russia, spoke about the most interesting cases in digital markets and recalled that the authority advocates the adaptation of antimonopoly legislation to the conditions of the digital economy, including using the "soft law" tools.

At the end of the event, Deputy Head thanked the experts of the Association of Corporate Lawyers for their joint work and invited them to discuss future initiatives.