OREANDA-NEWS. April 14, 2008. The Expert Council on Promoting Competition in Construction and Construction Materials Industry, at the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia), put forward an initiative to introduce export duties on cement, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The key issue at the session was "On Self-Regulatory Organizations (SRОs) in Construction".

The Deputy Chairman of the Expert Council - the Head of the FAS Russia's Department for Supervision of Housing and Utilities, Construction and Natural Resources Vladimir Efimov, who was a key speaker on this issue, proposed to formalize at the federal level the standard requirements to economic entities for entering SROs on the basis of the existing license requirements, in order to prevent restriction of competition. He emphasized the need to consider increasing the minimum membership for SROs in engineering surveying and design, as low minimum membership for SPOs can discredit the ides of self-regulatory organizations due to high probability of collusion between its members.

The Deputy Chairman of the Expert Council drew attention of the session to the fact that absence of the unified federal standards can create discriminatory conditions for not only participants of the construction market but also for the manufacturers of construction materials. Mandatory requirements to the works and the work output must be set not by SPOs but by the federal technical regulations.

Vladimir Efimov also pointed out that the State Duma is going to consider in second reading the draft federal law on amendments to the Town Planning Code, related to the self-regulatory organizations (SRОs). In addition, FAS Russia proposes to legitimize SROs, as planned - from 1st July, while licensing in the construction industry will continue for at least for 12-18 months. A relevant proposal will be submitted to the State Duma in the near future.

According to one of the authors of the draft legislation - Mikhail Viktorov, the General Director of the Russian Union of Constructors - the prospective legislation deals with specific issues: applying unified requirements to organizations joining SROs, and setting minimum membership for SROs. The new document will facilitate considerably the industry transition to self-regulation.

The Chairman of the Expert Council - Deputy Head of FAS Russia Andrei Tsyganov said that the issue of the self-regulatory organizations in construction is very important and requires in-depth consideration; therefore, FAS Russia expects comments and suggestions from the members of the Expert Council to elaborate on the FAS Russia's position.

Upon hearing and discussing the presentation, the FAS Russia's Expert Council on Promoting Competition in Construction and Construction Materials Industry concluded: to complete the draft federal law "On Introducing Amendments to the Town Planning Code" (with regard to regulation of SRОs) taking into consideration all comments and criticism.

Denis Davydov - the Deputy Head of the FAS Russia's Department for Industry Supervision, the Head of the Section on Construction Materials and Light Industry - reported on the measures for developing the cement market in the Russian Federation.

He reminded the session that upon the FAS Russia's initiative 5% customs duty on cement was abolished. In the opinion of the largest cement consumers, it will allow buying more cement outside the Russian Federation, in particular, in China and Turkey.

Furthermore, FAS Russia has proposed to introduce export duties on cement and apply governmental commodity interventions aimed at reduction of cement prices during the period of seasonal demand increase.

Andrei Tsyganov clarified that "at the moment these are only FAS Russia's proposals" submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation. If an appropriate decision is made, the export duty can be introduced within three months.

The President of the "EVROCEMENT group" OJSC Mikhail Skorokhod told the session participants about investment programmes implemented by the "EVROCEMENT group" OJSC in 2005-2007 and investment projects by 2010. In his speech Mikhail Skorokhod emphasized that supplies for the socially important projects and programmes in 2007 reached 6.1 m tons of cement or 26% from the total shipments of "EVROCEMENT trade" CJSC; in 2008 the company plans to supply no less than 6.7 m tons of cement for the socially important projects.

Mikhail Skorokhod also reported about the programme for developing a retail network for selling cement to the end-consumers - physical persons at the manufacturer's prices, through distributive networks and company's own sales outlets. In addition, the President pointed out to the members of the Expert Council the problem of importing cement to the Russian Federation that does not meet the Russian quality standards.

Summing up the session, the Expert Council on Promoting Competition in Construction and Construction Materials Industry decided to continue its work on monitoring investment programmes of the largest cement manufacturers in the Russian Federation and promptly take appropriate regulative measures, should any violation of the antimonopoly legislation be revealed.