Competition and Antitrust regulation

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Member of the Board – Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation

Member of the Board – Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation Bakhyt Sultanov

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22 Sep 2023 Bakhyt Sultanov: “The EEC public procurement activities provide access for the EAEU suppliers to the single market with common and clear rules” Bakhyt Sultanov, Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission, informed on the main directions of the EEC public procurement activities at the 7th International Contract Relations Forum in St. Petersburg.  According to the Minister, the volume of the Union States' public procurement market demonstrates annual growth. "At year-end 2022, it amounted to more than 190 bln dollars, which is 20% higher than in 2021. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that almost 100% of participants in the Eurasian procurement are our own suppliers and suppliers from other EAEU Member States," Bakhyt Sultanov emphasized. During the plenary session, the participants discussed cases of violation of competition in public procurement, as well as the procurement process regulation, which, according to the participants, should be changed in view of the current economic environment. The Minister listed the activities to remove barriers as one of the main directions of the Commission's work in the field of public procurement. "I'd like to inform you that the Commission carries out work on the barrier issue on an ongoing basis. The Treaty on the EAEU envisages the main principle — provision of national treatment in procurement. This means that a country should provide goods, works and services, as well as suppliers from other Union States with no less favorable treatment and conditions than those for its own goods and suppliers," Bakhyt Sultanov noted.  The EEC Minister mentioned the procurement process digitalization as another important area in the work of the supranational body. The Commission and the EAEU countries actively work over the issue of recognizing electronic digital signatures for the public procurement purposes. In particular, unified rules for recognizing EDS in the Eurasian procurement are being elaborated jointly with representatives of authorized public authorities of the "five" countries. At the same time, the countries are in the process of ratifying amendments to vest the EEC with authority to adopt these rules. A pool of amendments to the Treaty on the EAEU, which expand opportunities for digitalization in public procurement, has also been prepared and approved by the five States. These include fixing the norms on mandatory procurement and conclusion of contracts based on their results in electronic format, reducing the procurement timeframe and others. As part of the work on digitizing public procurement, the Minister informed on the interactive map. The novelty will contain visual information on the interpenetration of goods and participation of suppliers in each other's public procurement. "Such infographic functionality will enable public authorities and the business community to receive up-to-date information on the purchasing structure and use it to adopt relevant managerial decisions, including on localizing the manufacturing of in-demand products," Bakhyt Sultanov summarized.

20 Sep 2023 The EEC Board fined a paper manufacturer for failure to provide information during an antitrust investigation By decision of the Eurasian Economic Commission's Board, fines were imposed on the paper manufacturer – the Russian pulp and paper plant, its management company, as well as Director General for failure to provide information during an investigation into a possible violation of competition rules in the cross-border market for paper in rolls and sheets. The EEC Antitrust Unit launched an investigation on the signs of abuse of dominance by certain manufacturers of paper in rolls and sheets and entering into anti-competitive agreements prohibited by the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union.  As part of considering the materials, the Commission requested the necessary information from Turinsky Pulp and Paper Plant JSC, TURA Management Company LLC and its Director General. The request concerned the provision of standard information required for analyzing the commodity market, determining the main economic entities and their market shares. However, the economic entities failed to provide the requested information within the established time frame. According to Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation, the Commission sent requests to the economic entities twice, there is evidence that the addressees received these letters, but the supranational authority's requests were ignored. Based on that, the Commission initiated and considered a case against these legal entities and the head of the management company. "It should be noted that the investigation results are based on the totality of information obtained as a result of requests. Due to such incompleteness, the Commission is unable to fully exercise its powers aimed at maintaining the principles of market economy and fair competition," the Minister noted. The EEC Board's Decision shall come into effect after 30 calendar days have elapsed from the date of its publication.

12 Sep 2023 Bakhyt Sultanov: “Today’s competition policy of the Commission changes following the global trend towards regionalization” Bakhyt Sultanov, Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission, announced the main directions for developing the competition policy of the Eurasian Economic Commission, speaking at the International Forum on Fair Competition Policy in Beijing (PRC). The EEC Minister has noted that China is one of the important trade partners of the Eurasian Economic Union, having borders with most of the EAEU countries. “In 2022, the trade turnover between the Eurasian Economic Union and China grew by almost 30%. Exports increased by approx. 40%, and imports grew by 20%. The trade volume between the EAEU and China exceeded 200 bln dollars in 2022. In this regard, it is extremely important to enhance cooperation in the field of competition between the Eurasian Economic Commission and China," Bakhyt Sultanov noted. According to the EEC Minister, the vector of development of competition policy of competition authorities changes under the influence of deglobalization and regionalization. More attention is paid to regional integration associations. Active work is also under way to find the best instruments aimed at maintaining fair competition in digital markets. "The digital environment represents a new challenge for competition authorities. Initiatives to regulate it are being discussed at the global level. The proposals are diverse and require close attention and painstaking study,” the EEC Minister added. On the sidelines of the Forum, Bakhyt Sultanov had a meeting with Gan Lin, Head of the State Antimonopoly Bureau of the People's Republic of China. Discussing the interaction between the EEC and China's antimonopoly regulator, Bakhyt Sultanov noted the need to continue active exchange of experience in conducting investigations of competition rules violations and research into commodity markets. “Nowadays, Chinese competition legislation can be described as cutting-edge. Here, one of the first attempts was made to statutorily regulate the activities of IT giants in digital markets. We would like to study this experience and subsequently, perhaps, implement advanced innovations in the Union's law," Bakhyt Sultanov said. Following the meeting, the Commission was invited to participate at the expert level in a training course on competition within the "Belt and Road" program to be held in October this year. Nowadays, the interaction between the EEC and the PRC in the field of competition has been formalized by the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation signed in 2018, as well as the Memorandum of Understanding on Competition Policy and Antitrust Regulation of 2021. Information Support Section of the EEC Organizational Support and Protocol Department

07 Sep 2023 EEC representatives answered questions posed by businesses about competition in EAEU cross-border markets and access to Eurasian government procurement in Minsk Issues of ensuring equal and unimpeded access to public procurement of the Eurasian Economic Union countries, as well as the specifics of maintaining fair competition in the EAEU cross-border markets were discussed by participants of the Public Information Office of the Competition and Antitrust Regulation Unit of the Eurasian Economic Commission. The event was held in Minsk on September 7 at the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange with the support of the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade of the Republic of Belarus and the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.  As was noted by Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Competition and Antimonopoly Regulation, about a quarter of the claims on violations of competition received by the Commission came from Belarus. “In this regard, we use case studies as we purpose such meetings to tell entrepreneurs about the risks of violating supranational antitrust law that they may face when entering the EAEU transboundary markets,” said the EEC Minister.  Belarusian business actively participates in public procurement of the EAEU countries. Today, the Eurasian Register of Industrial Goods, which allows free participation in procurement of EAEU countries, includes information on 7,187 products by 92 manufacturers from the Republic of Belarus. Along with experts from the Antitrust Unit, the meeting was attended by representatives from other specialized units of the Commission to ensure a thorough discussion of the questions asked by Belarusian entrepreneurs. They were asked questions about the difficulties of manufacturers from the Eurasian Five countries in bringing marketing authorization applications of medicines in line with the EAEU requirements, about the problems of Belarusian entrepreneurs when exporting goods from third countries, about possible violations of the Treaty during road transport within the Union. Following the dialogue, EEC representatives called on businesses to leverage the Commission's resources and potential to protect their rights more actively, as well as to submit their relevant questions that could become topics for upcoming meetings of the Public Information Offices. For reference The Eurasian Register includes 8,138 goods (15 industries) by 108 manufacturers: 92 from the Republic of Belarus, 6 from the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2 from the Kyrgyz Republic, 8 from the Russian Federation. 

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