OREANDA-NEWS. October 01, 2013. The Expert Council at the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) for Developing Competition in Education and Science discussed impact of two draft orders of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation upon the state of competition on the markets of textbooks and work-books.

The Expert Council discussed the draft Order “On approving the Procedures for compiling a federal list of textbooks recommended to use under state-accredited education programmes for general elementary, general core and general secondary education” and the draft Order “On approving the Procedures for selecting organizations publishing textbooks allowed for use in the education process at accredited educational organizations implementing the main educational programmes of general education”.

Discussing the draft Procedures for compiling a federal list of textbooks, the Expert Council noted that some its provisions did not comply with the antimonopoly law and the law on education. Book publishers and authors of the textbook invited to take part in the discussion, reported that the draft Order would considerably reduce competition on the market, and, as a consequence, increase prices for text-books. It would also create additional administrative barriers for entry of new authors of textbooks to the market, and would require repeated expert examination of the textbooks, the period of expert examination for which has not expired.

Following the discussion, a representative of the Ministry of Education and Science, Irina Tripolskaya said that the work on the draft Procedures for compiling a federal list of textbooks, which is being considered by the Ministry of Justice, would continue in view of the comments and proposals made by the Expert Council.

On the draft Procedures for selecting organizations publishing textbooks, the representative of the Ministry of Education and Science said that the Ministry had decided to postpone its adoption for a year. All interested persons are invited to take part in its improvement.

The Expert Council recommended FAS to:

- Send a letter to the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Justice that some provisions of the draft Procedures for compiling a federal list of textbooks did not comply with the antimonopoly law and the law on education. Outline the identified risks of adopting the draft Order and the importance of evaluating expediency of adopting the Order

- Send a letter to the Ministry of Finances asking to evaluate absence of the necessary calculations and substantiation of financial consequences of adopting the Procedures for compiling a federal list of textbooks

- Propose to the Ministry of Education and Science to organize public discussion on both draft orders involving FAS and the expert community.