Competition and Antitrust regulation

EEC
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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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27 Jan 2023 EEC and UNCTAD agreed to continue meetings of regional organizations empowered in competition Bakhyt Sultanov, Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Pedro Manuel Moreno, Deputy Secretary General of UNCTAD, and Teresa Moreira, Head of the Competition and Consumer Policies Branch of UNCTAD, held working meetings today in Geneva (Switzerland). The key topic of discussion was the Commission's cooperation with regional organizations vested with powers in the field of competition. “As part of our joint work, I would like to note the support provided by UNCTAD to our initiative in organizing annual meetings of regional organizations vested with powers in the field of competition. For two years in a row, we have been able, with the support of UNCTAD, to gather integration associations from all continents of the world for a general discussion. These are the Andean Community, COMESA, CARICOM, UEMOA, and ASEAN”, Bakhyt Sultanov noted.  Pedro Manuel Moreno, UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General, noted the efficient interaction between UNCTAD and the EEC Competition Unit and expressed hope for its further strengthening.  Besides, the parties discussed the participation of the EEC Competition and Antitrust Regulation Unit in the UNCTAD Working Group on Cross-Border Cartels.  “We stress the importance of this Group's activities and its desire to prepare a document systematizing the best experience in this field, and making some recommendations that would be most useful to developing countries and newly institutions”, the Minister added.  The meeting attendees paid special attention to the UNCTAD project on the interrelationship between the competition policy and the development of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship, as well as the need to further deepen the discussion in this direction. Bakhyt Sultanov invited representatives of the Competition and Consumer Policies Branch of UNCTAD to speak at a competition session on the sidelines of the 2nd Eurasian Economic Forum to be held on May 24-25 this year in Russia.

25 Jan 2023 Rules of origin for engaging in public procurement of the EAEU countries supplemented with another 55 items The EEC Council approved the production conditions to be met for another 55 commodity items to be considered manufactured in the EAEU so they can be accepted for public procurement in the Union States. Relevant amendments were introduced to Annex 1 to the Rules for Determining the Country of Origin of Certain Types of Goods for Public Procurement Purposes. The goods include aircraft tugs, 3D printers, microphones, loudspeakers, phones, sound systems, circuits for devices and computer power units, scanners, biometric systems, LEDs, fiber optic cables, breathing apparatuses and other products. In total, the introduced changes concern five industries: machine tool engineering, specialized mechanical engineering, medical product manufacturing, musical instruments, as well as sound equipment, electronics and communications electronics. All the conditions and production procedures were agreed with the authorized authorities and businesses of the EAEU countries. According to Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation, the decision by the EEC Council significantly expands possibilities for the Union countries' manufacturers to participate in each other's public procurement. "The adopted conditions and process operations will allow to leverage the capacities created in the Union States to the utmost, which is of no small importance given import substitution and relocation of production facilities," commented the Minister. For reference Following the adopted decision, the Rules for Determining the Country of Origin of Certain Types of Goods for Public Procurement Purposes approved by the Decision of the EEC Council No. 105 dated November 23, 2020, contain production conditions for 375 commodity titles from 14 manufacturing industries. Moreover, the Rules contain 102 commodity items that are accepted for public procurement based on the ST-1 certificate.

18 Jan 2023 EEC fined companies from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan for unfair competition Fines amounting to around three million Russian rubles are to be paid by the professional organization of accountants "Chamber of Professional Accountants of the Republic of Kazakhstan" (Republic of Kazakhstan), the limited liability partnership "Eurasian Institute of Certified Public Accountants" (Republic of Kazakhstan), the public association "Institute of Professional Accountants and Auditors of Kyrgyzstan" (Kyrgyz Republic) and the CIPAEN institution (Kyrgyz Republic).  This decision was taken by the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission on January 17, 2023 following investigation into the cases of unfair competition in the EAEU cross-border market. The reason for the investigation was an appeal submitted to the Commission by the Russian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (ICPA) providing services for training and certifying financial officers according to the qualified international procedures CIPA/СРА/СРА EURASIA.  In the course of the proceedings, it was established that the mentioned companies used their websites to spread inaccurate information about termination of ICPA activities. In that context, they presented their activities as a continued and evolved CIPA program using the applicant's brand and design features. Such actions misled consumers into believing that they were buying a service from the legal holder of the rights to grant CIPA/СРА/СРА EURASIA certificates. As a result of such actions, the ICPA lost some of its customers. According to Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation, the companies' actions were classified as unfair competition prohibited by Article 76, Paragraph 2 of the Treaty on the EAEU. "The Board's decision imposed a fine amounting to 662,500 rubles on each of the infringing companies. In accordance with the Methodology for calculating and imposing fines for violating the general rules of competition in the cross-border markets, fines are paid to the budget of the state in the territory of which an offender is registered. That is, these fines will be paid to the budgets of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in their national currencies at the exchange rate set on the date of the decision," noted the Minister.  To curtail anti-competitive behavior, the Board's decision also obligates the defendants to remove false information from their websites and to refrain from any future misconduct in the cross-border market of services related to programs for public accountant training and certification. The Board's decision will take effect after 30 calendar days have elapsed from its publication on the official EEC website.  

14 Dec 2022 EEC Council supplemented Rules for determining the country of origin of goods with some commodity items The Rules for determining the country of origin of certain types of goods for public procurement purposes were amended by the EEC Council's decision in important ways. The list of goods included in the Eurasian register of industrial goods for public procurement purposes on the basis of ST-1 certificate (issued in accordance with the Rules for determining the country of origin in the Commonwealth of Independent States dated November 20, 2009) has been supplemented with another 81 types of goods. These include chandeliers, irons, microwave ovens, electrical appliances for making coffee or tea, mattresses, electric water heaters, vacuum cleaners, lifting gates, microscopes, and others. According to Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation, now, the manufacturer can provide a Certificate of Origin ST-1 in order to include these goods in the Eurasian Register. “The supplements adopted today will significantly facilitate the procedure for entrepreneurs to be included in the Eurasian register, what is especially important given the social significance of these goods,” the EEC Minister noted. In addition, the Council's decision extended the possibility of being included in the Eurasian Register of Industrial Goods on the basis of the ST-1 Certificate for eight items of special equipment until June 30, 2023, for trolleybuses - until the end of 2023, and for light industry goods and paper - until the end of 2024.

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