Andrei Biryukov
Government to consider competition development
On November 6, a programme for the development of competition, prepared by the Economic Development Ministry, and a package of amendments to anti-monopoly legislation will be presented to the government's Council for Competition and Entrepreneurship at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The objective is to limit the powers of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) to only control monopolies. The list of steps to be agreed on with the FAS should, on the Ministry's suggestion, be trimmed down. The programme's ultimate aim is to dispense with much of the formality associated with relations regulation.
Quantitative indices need not be used to describe a company's position. The emphasis must be put on factors contributing to its market weight. The Ministry also recommends that the FAS stop giving a preliminary go-ahead to all deals, save those by companies holding no less than 35% of the market. "A high price is not always subject to regulation. Over-regulation could stymie competition," said a source at the Ministry. "Anti-monopoly regulation is still used to remedy competition offences, rather than promote competition," the programme said.
All in all, the programme lists special competition-developing measures for 17 branches of the economy. In particular, it proposes that vertically integrated oil companies (VIOCs) expand mutual trade in oil products. Currently, they do not trade with one another and like to supply their petroleum filling stations from their own oil refineries, although another company's refinery may be next-door. "To improve matters, it is proposed that VIOCs have mandatory quotas for selling oil products at open auctions or on commodity exchanges, and run separate wholesale and retail divisions in their structure," the programme says.
Competition in the agro-industrial sector, in the opinion of the Economic Development Ministry, could be encouraged by improving commodity-producing chains. To advance cooperation in the sector, less rigid anti-monopoly requirements should be set on farm producers.
Apart from the programme, the meeting will also discuss a package of priority measures to promote competition in Russia.
