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Heads of Government approved Annual Report on the state of competition in EAEU transboundary markets for 2022
Disposition of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council approved the Annual Report on the state of competition in transboundary markets and measures taken to restrain violations of the general competition rules therein for 2022.
Implementing antitrust response measures, last year the Eurasian Economic Commission considered 26 applications for violations of competition rules, and conducted 12 antitrust investigations, 7 of which were initiated by the Commission. They covered the market of services rendered by testing laboratories, and markets for certain types of seeds, paper, and the sale of cars.
13 cases were considered, 3 of which were initiated for failure by economic entities of the Eurasian Economic Union countries to provide information requested by the EEC as part of ongoing investigations.
Following the completed cases, the Commission's Board adopted 5 decisions. In three of them, economic entities from the EAEU countries were fined and directed to eliminate anti-competitive practices, and in two of them, decisions were adopted on the absence of violations.
In 2022, the Commission actively applied “soft law” instruments – warning and caution, enabling to restore competition in transboundary markets without severe penalties.
“Using the warning, we were able to restore competition in eight transboundary markets. These include markets for tea (Greenfield, TESS trademarks), software (an application for tracking minors), fermented milk drinks (Imunele trademark), cosmetic products and others,” noted Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation, commenting on the report.
The Minister also said that in order to prevent possible violations, the Commission had issued 9 warnings to the heads of companies last year (in medical and tourism services, rice, plastics, cotton products, beer products, car sales) for statements in the media that could lead to distortion or disruption of competition.
As part of implementing the requirements of the Treaty on the EAEU, the countries sent six notifications to the Commission on the introduction of state price regulation for certain types of goods. In accordance with the current EEC procedure, five consultations were held to establish the grounds for introducing and extending state price regulation. No restrictions on competition in the Union's transboundary markets have been identified by the Commission as a result of price regulation measures introduced by individual countries.
Work continues to develop international cooperation between the EEC and supranational and regional organizations empowered in the field of competition. A Memorandum of Understanding between the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Competition Commission of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) on competition policy and law enforcement was signed as part of the meeting of regional organizations held in July 2022.
A separate section of the Report is devoted to the work done to improve the Union's competition law. The Commission has elaborated a draft Procedure for exemption from liability in case when an economic entity voluntarily declares an anti-competitive agreement or participation in it. "Targeted” amendments to the Methodology on fines have been prepared, extending the period during which liability measures can be applied to a violator of competition rules from 3 to 5 years.
