OREANDA-NEWS. July 14, 2014. The 14th Session of the Inter-Government Group of Experts in Competition Law and Enforcement took part in Geneva (Switzerland) under the framework of UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). A delegation of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) at the Session is led by Deputy Head of FAS, Anatoly Golomolzin.

Representatives of foreign competition authorities, inter-government organizations, non-commercial associations and experts in antimonopoly law also are taking part in the Session.

The Session opened with a special expert meeting on the role of competition in increasing national growth and development. Apart from representatives of competition authorities from different countries, attendees included representatives of international organizations: the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and UNCTAD.

In the welcoming address, Sothi Rachagan, Commissioner of Malaysia Competition Commission, emphasized the importance of UNCTAD in considering the issues of economic growth and development across the globe. Competition and trade are the main drivers of those processes.

John Fingleton, a former Chief Executive of the UK Office for Fair Trading, and then a senior advisor at Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, pointed out that items on the agenda comprise sustainable development, inclusive (comprehensive, balanced) growth and supporting processes of protecting competition. He also drew attention to the fact that in terms of competition protection not only national but also supranational aspects are quite important due to continuing globalization.

Alberto Heimler, who chairs the Working Group on Competition and Regulation of OECD Competition Committee, in particular, highlighted correlation between the issues of competition and intellectual property. The theme was continued by Giovanni Napolitano, IP & Competition Policy Division, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Giovanni Napolitano emphasized that lately the problems of applying intellectual rights in various forms, including patents, trademarks, industrial design become increasingly more prominent. Traditionally, countries where such rights are registered are the leaders in this field. It indicates strengthening their position in competitive rivalry; particularly, the US, Japan, China, Korea, etc. In this context, Anatoly Golomolzin pointed out that the fact that Russia is not among those countries is a big shortcoming of Russian economy.

Mr. Napolitano also stated that there is no unequivocal correlation between research-and-technology achievements and economic growth. At the same time, countries that demonstrate a considerable economic growth have a developed system of registering IP rights. The growth rates in the patent-intensive sectors are around 20% higher than in the economy in general.

John Davis, Head of OECD Competition Division, made a report on interrelation between state companies and competitive neutrality. The main thesis of Mr Davis was the necessity to observe competition framework for both private and state-run companies. An OECD survey showed that 282 out of 2000 largest companies in the world are run by the state. Therefore, the issue of observing competitive neutrality is quite pressing.

The Head of UNCTAD Competition and Consumer Policies Branch, Hassan Qaqaya, delivered a report on the importance of competition in the countries with rich natural resources, particularly, development of competition in the extractive industries. Continuing the discussion, Deputy Head of FAS, Anatoly Golomolzin, made a presentation about the markets of oil products. He talked about three “waves” of cases against large vertically-integrated oil companies. Guided by the general principle of competitive neutrality, the violations were suppressed in the actions of companies with state participation as well as private companies, particularly, with foreign participation. He emphasized the importance of not only suppressing restrictive business practices but also development of commercial institutions, particularly, creating commercial market infrastructure.

“With large-scale violations there is a temptation to introduce government regulation, so transparent pricing is especially important. Competition is rivalry for leadership. The most important is that consumers maintain leadership”, pointed out Anatoly Golomolzin.

The speaker outlined significance of coordinating efforts of the global community in establishing pricing instruments for oil and oil products. Concluding the report, Anatoly Golomolzin shared with experts Russia’s experience of establishing exchange and off-exchange indices, which exemplifies the best world practice. “The Russian Federation has the rules of trade that comply with the antimonopoly law and the law on organized tenders. Exchange trading with spot goods and the procedures for registering off-exchange transactions take place under those rules”, said Deputy Head of FAS.

Other speakers included representatives of the US, Indonesia, Benin, China, Kenya and some other countries.