OREANDA-NEWS. August 18, 2008. The Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy (ICAP) conjointly with Department for Economic Cooperation of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has prepared the Report "On the state of competition in the CIS member-states' air transportation market", the press-centre of FAS Russia reported.

The given Report is a result of the activity of the Headquarters on joint investigations of the violations of antimonopoly legislation in the CIS member-states. The Headquarters coordinates joint actions of the competition authorities of the CIS member-states on monitoring (investigating) anti-competitive practices of the companies that act in international markets within the CIS. Pursuant to the decision of the ICAP the Headquarters is headed by Mr. Anatoly Golomolzin - Deputy Head of the FAS Russia. The experts from the antimonopoly authorities of the CIS member-states are represented in the Headquarters.

Within the frameworks of the Headquarters and in accordance with the decision of the 25th Meeting of the ICAP the antimonopoly authorities of the CIS member-states in June 2007 launched joint examination of the air transportation market including the international routes between the CIS member-states.

Examining the air transportation market of the CIS member-states and revealing problems that prevent from the development of competition, that is the basis for successful functioning of any sector of the economy, seems to be very important from the point of view of the social importance of the given market. The successful functioning of the air transportation market is both the mean to satisfy the effective demand and important factor that secures the enlargement of internal and intergovernmental relations within the Commonwealth.

The main target of the examination was the revealing of the problems and "bottle necks" that restrict the development of the air transportation market of the CIS member-states. It should be underlined that the competition between the air carriers and the entities rendering services of airport operations creates the basis for the successful functioning of the market in question.

The international experience in the sphere of protection of competition by the example of the European Union has been examined; the most general cases on violation of antimonopoly legislation in the market as well as intergovernmental agreements on air communication of the CIS member-states have been surveyed and are assembled in the Report.

The Report will be considered at the next Session of the Economic Council of the CIS on September 12, 2008.