On January
31, 2017, the Competition Development Committee of Russia’s Union of
Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) met with representatives of the Federal
Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) to discuss steps to implement competition
development programs, the concepts of the new tariff regulation and major
changes in the procurement system.

On January 31, 2017, RSPP Competition Development
Committee held an expanded
meeting with representatives of FAS Russia and the VEGAS LEX law firm, chaired by RSPP Board member Sergey Generalov, devoted to the guidelines
for the state competition development policy for 2017–2018; the main trends and
initiatives to change legislation in procurement and tariff regulation.

At the beginning of his presentation, Deputy Chairman of the RSPP Competition Development Committee, VEGAS LEX Managing Partner >Alexander Sitnikov, thanked FAS Russia for the open position and the opportunity
for a constructive dialogue with the business community on a wide range of
issues related to the development of competition in Russia. After that, Mr. Sitnikov
presented a report on the Committee’s priorities and plans, including
improvement of the competition protection law (135-FZ) and the public
procurement and tariff regulation reform. He also spoke about the progress made
by the Committee and outlined the aspects the Committee is to consider in the
near future.

Deputy Head of the
Federal Antimonopoly Service Sergey
Puzyrevsky thanked the business
community for the chance of a constructive discussion on the draft presidential
executive order On the Guidelines of State Policy on the Development of Competition;
he talked about the current competition situation in the commodity markets and
the FAS’ position on the extent of government involvement in the economy. Mr.
Puzyrevsky also introduced the concept of the new tariff regulation, which will
be put up for public consultations in the near future and then considered by
the Russian Government.

Deputy Head of the FAS Department for
Control over State Procurement Artyom
Lobov spoke about the changes in procurement legislation. In
particular, he covered the results of the service’s work in this area over the
past year, including the work on Federal Law No. 321-FZ of July 3, 2016, excluding
federal unitary enterprises from the competence of Law No. 223-FZ, but putting
them in the competence of Law No. 44-FZ. The committee members also learned
about the current FAS Russia plans in procurement, including further discussion
of Law No. 223-FZ. The Committee’s position on the application of procurement
legislation was outlined by Deputy Chair of the RSPP Competition Development
Committee Tatyana Kamenskaya.

The presentations of the FAS representatives were
followed by regular discussion, where the Committee members spoke about the
most pressing issues in their companies’ operation that have to do with tariff
regulation and procurement.

In conclusion, the participants outlined further plans
and priorities of the Committee for 2017 in all areas that were discussed at
the meeting.

***

For more information on VEGAS LEX’s
services in the area of antimonopoly regulation, click here.

More from VEGAS LEX