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Priority areas of work for 2022 were discussed on December 23 during an online meeting in the "5+1" format by the heads of the antitrust departments of the Eurasian Economic Union Member States and Arman Shakkaliev, Minister in charge Competition and Antitrust Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

The meeting of national and supranational regulators was held for the fourth time this year. The participants noted that close interaction allows building partnerships, productive relationships, and determining common priorities for further work.

According to the EEC Minister, the protection of fair business, especially in digital markets, remains one of the top priorities.

"We should develop definite rules of the game, since the specifics of digital markets do not allow the efficient application of existing procedural measures to curb the unfair practices of individual players," Arman Shakkaliev addressed the leaders.

The Minister proposed to create a joint expert group on competition in digital markets. It will focus on developing consistent methods for assessing the size of digital markets and the balance between the benefits of digital platforms for consumers, including the damage that such platforms can cause to competition. In addition, the group will deal with the issues of delineating competence between the Commission and the national antitrust authorities.

The EEC Minister noted that in the coming year, special attention will be paid to supporting businesses engaged in public procurement. To improve the procurement regulation, the Competition and Antitrust Regulation Unit of the Commission proposed a number of measures, including a review of best practices to prevent collusion in public procurement and the development of a unified approach to determining the maximum amount of transactions, within which conducting a procurement procedure from a single source or a single supplier is allowed. According to Arman Shakkaliev, this measure will contribute to ensuring equal conditions for suppliers from Member States who participate in public procurement of another EAEU country. The Minister assured that if a consensus is reached, appropriate amendments to the Union's law will be prepared.

During the meeting, another of the EEC Competition Unit's initiatives for public procurement was announced. It presupposed the introduction of an "electronic store" mechanism for procurement from a single source. Particular countries already have some experience in creating Internet sites where suppliers offer goods at a set price, and government customers can purchase them without a tender. Such a mechanism introduced in all countries of the Union will ensure the transparency of the procurement procedure from a single source and increase the number of potential suppliers, increasing the efficiency of budget funds spending.

As consumer interest protection is concerned, ensuring unimpeded access of the population to vital medicines was called one of the priority areas in this sphere. For this purpose, Competition Units were proposed to create a Medicine Price Register. It is expected to contain information about manufacturers, prices (marginal, wholesale) for medicines in the EAEU countries.

During the event, the EEC Competition Unit presented the results of the review prepared this year by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The document contains an in-depth analysis of the EAEU's law, law enforcement and the EEC's activities in the field of competition, as well as recommendations for their improvement.

It was decided to hold the next meeting in the "5+1" format in February 2022 in Moscow in person.