OREANDA-NEWS. April 19, 2012. The American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, with participation of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) and the U.S. embassy in Moscow, organized a Russian-American Round Table on “Improving Russian Antimonopoly Law and the Law on Foreign Investments in Strategic Sectors of the Economy” in Moscow, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The Round Table was opened by the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, Andrew Somers. Welcoming address was given by the Head of FAS Igor Artemyev and a Minister Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow Michael Klecheski.

The Head of FAS Legal Department, Sergey Puzyrevsky, discussed some issues of enforcement of the “third antimonopoly package” and recent changes in the legal framework of antimonopoly regulation that took part within the past two months. In January 2012 new rules were established that have significantly changed antimonopoly practice in some areas.

At a session on compliance of pharmaceutical companies with the antimonopoly law, the Head of FAS Department for Control over Social Sphere and Trade, Timophei Nizhegorodtsev, stated that “giving priority to antimonopoly or anti-corruption laws is a false choice since the antimonopoly and anti-corruption laws augment each other, and observing the antimonopoly law is a necessary condition and a part of preventive measures against corruptive behaviour. Protection of competition is achieved through protecting specific persons, whose rights were infringed by economic entities that dominate the market, particularly by corruptive arrangements between them in the form of exclusive vertical agreements. Compliance with the norms of the antimonopoly law does not allow dominant companies to use the norms of anti-corruption law as a coverage (justification) of their corruptive activities”.

The Head of FAS Department for Control over Foreign Investments Svetlana Levchenko pointed out that the latest amendments to the Law on foreign investments in strategic sectors of the economy were aimed at liberalizing the norms, and the current version of the Law is sufficiently clear with regard to its enforcement, that some experts and lawyers would not believe could be achieved.

Concluding the Round Table, the Head of FAS Department for International Economic Cooperation, Lesya Davydova, emphasized: “Russian Antimonopoly Service is always open for an active dialogue and welcomes exchanging opinions, which often can be challenging, but which helps resolving possible regulatory problems”.