OREANDA-NEWS. October 19, 2012. Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) Anatoly Golomolzin addressed the Round Table – “Unified Competition Policy – a Necessary Conditions for Efficient Common Economic Space” , reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The Round Table included representatives of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the antimonopoly bodies and business communities of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation.

The Round Table focused on the general issues of cooperation between the antimonopoly bodies at the national and supra-national levels, as well as specifics of such cooperation with regard to such industry markets as the markets of electric power and capacity as well as oil and oil products.

Anatoly Golomolzin emphasized that the antimonopoly bodies register considerable number of violations on the markets of electric power and capacity as well as oil and oil products. In particular, energy companies are on the first place in the Russian Federation by the number of violations of the antimonopoly law – over 1000 violations per year. Upon the outcome of investigations of the antimonopoly cases, oil companies transferred over 20 billion Rubles as fines to the budget.

Anatoly Golomolzin outlined the prospects of effective work of the antimonopoly bodies of the countries – members of the Common Economic Space, in view of the Agreement “On the Unified Principles and Rules of Competition” that came into force, particularly, in the part of exchanging information (including commercial information) and enforcement coordination. Deputy Head of FAS gave detailed information about the structural reform for separating competitive and natural monopolistic activities in the electric power industry and about various conditions for performance of the market of oil and oil products in Russia and Kazakhstan.

The Agreements for establishing the Common Economic Space set the requirements for developing common markets of the most important goods and services, including the markets of oil and oil products, and electric power industry. Anatoly Golomolzin emphasized importance of joint efforts for building-up a general commercial market infrastructure, related, in particular to:

Market models;

Rules and principles of market functioning;

Market price indices along wholesale and retail chains;

Organized competitive bidding (at electronic sites and exchanges).

It is also important to further discuss synchronization of tax and customs-and tariff policies, requirements of technical regulations, approaches to regulating (deregulating) prices (tariffs). This work must take place with engaging the antimonopoly bodies of the parties and EEC, as well as other authorized bodies of the parties including industry ministries and the ministry of economics, associations and alliances of producers and consumers, organizations of commercial and technological infrastructure (including operators of electric networks and pipelines, dispatch management), legislators, etc.

The FAS proposals were fully supported by the Round Table participants.