BRICS COMPETITION AUTHORITIES HAVE BEGUN TO DEVELOP MODEL PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS OF ACTIVITIES OF DIGITAL MARKETS PARTICIPANTS
The document was discussed during the meeting of BRICS Working Group for the Research of Competition Issues in Digital Markets, which was held in Rio de Janeiro
Co-chairs of the Working Group are the antimonopoly authorities of Brazil and Russia. The meeting was also attended by the competition authorities of Egypt and Iran. They are going to join the association on January 1, 2024.
During the meeting, BRICS Working Group summed up the interim results of its activities and outlined further priority areas. The participants also discussed the latest trends and initiatives in the field of ensuring competition in digital markets amongst BRICS countries.
BRICS competition authorities presented the 2nd Report by the Competition Authorities Working Group on Digital Economy. It has been developed since 2020. The findings of the prepared Report are used in the work on the model principles and standards of activities of digital markets participants, which was initiated by the Working Group on the initiative of FAS Russia. The document demonstrates that BRICS competition authorities maintain strict antimonopoly control in their work, while providing a reasonable degree of freedom to participants in digital markets.
The model principles are aimed at creating transparent, non-discriminatory conditions for doing business in the BRICS+ countries. The document will include an expanded list of possible unfair practices of digital markets participants, which were revealed by competition authorities of the association.
A similar mechanism for regulating fair competition in the digital markets was fixed in memorandum between FAS and the major domestic IT companies. It strengthens the self-regulation institute. Market participants voluntarily, guided by the principles, agreed not to engage in unfair practices against consumers, competitors and other persons.
Afterwards, the same model principles and standards of digital markets participants were adopted jointly with FAS Russia in the CIS countries. They are also based on the "principle of reasonability and fairness"*.
The experience received a positive assessment, so FAS Russia proposed to implement a similar concept amongst BRICS countries.
The competition authorities of the association have developed specific steps to work on the model principles. The next discussion of the document will take place at the next meeting of the Working Group in the beginning of 2024.
At the Forum preliminary results of the survey prepared by BRICS antimonopoly authorities were also presented. It was held by the BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre. It describes the problems of regulators' cooperation in assessing global mergers and acquisitions, including digital ones.
Regulators and experts reviewed the recent experience of cooperation when considering transactions. Besides, the participants discussed possible steps to intensify cooperation between BRICS competition authorities in the digital sphere.
* Model principles of digital market participants in the CIS member states were approved during the 54th meeting of the Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy