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EEC issued a caution in cross-border market of car repair services
The Antitrust Unit of the Eurasian Economic Commission issued a caution to the director of an economic entity of the Russian Federation providing car repair services in the Russian and Kazakh markets.
The caution was issued in relation to a public statement made by the company's head: according to him, the cost of car repair services in Russia will allegedly experience an increase in mid-2023. Such statement was made during an interview to a journalist of the gazeta.ru online publication and posted on the Internet.
Given the prominence of this economic entity in the market and a large number of its franchisees in Russian and Kazakh cities, that statement might have a significant impact on the commodity market of car services and lead to competition violations that are prohibited by Article 76 of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union.
It bears reminding that a caution is a so called "soft regulation" instrument in the EAEU law. It was introduced in 2021.
Both an individual and an official of economic entities may receive a warning for issuing a public statement about planned behavior in a cross-border market that may lead to a violation of the general competition rules.
Commenting on the issued caution, Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation, noted that in its work the supranational regulator does not focus on combating consequences of violated competition rules but on creating a preventive risk management system.
