Point of View

“There is another step to promote the development of the market infrastructure, and that step is the passing of a bill on financial instrument taxation. It will remove many formidable obstacles to developing open trade in the traditional key Russian exports-mainly oil, its derivative products, and natural gas.”

"What we need to do is remove the reasons for the monopolisation of particular commodities and service markets. The competition development programme aims at settling just such structural problems."

"The Programme envisions improvement of the legal framework of anti-trust policies. We'll have to clearly and precisely define areas where the Law On Competition should be applied. Not all actions currently formally qualified as breach of antitrust law are really violations. We'll also need to delineate between tough but fair market play and forbidden tricks."

"The sectors where unfair competition has reached a systemic level, directly hurting people's interests and hindering business development, require special attention. I am referring to jet fuel pricing policies, for example, exorbitant fees for connection to power grids, the markets for coking coal and petrochemicals, public utilities and other sectors. We need tailor-made "pinpoint" solutions here. In particular, we need to approve regulations for non-discriminatory access to services of natural monopolies, as well as customs and tariffs regulation measures."

"The Programme also emphasises competition policies aimed at encouraging small businesses. It is an important current economic and social policy issue, because this sector plays a significant role in creating jobs."

"We'll have to work faster on removing administrative barriers hampering the development of entrepreneurship, implementing our earlier decision as well as additional measures. In particular, we needs to work more intensively on building an information support system for businesses, that is, expand and diversify market reports and price indicators published by the authorities. The move will take away, or at least lessen illegal advantages of businesses benefitting from informal contacts with officials."

"Another pressing issue is dealing with the mala fide practice of illegally granting special privileges to companies which are "close" to the federal or local governments, while putting up artificial barriers for their rivals. This often happens when placing federal or municipal orders."

"Our plans to promote competition can be divided into two major blocks. The first block includes protecting competition with a strong anti-trust policy.Proposals include a crackdown on cartels and greater punishment for government and corporate officials for violating competition rules, even up to criminal prosecution. The second block has to do with shaping competitive markets. The Government proposes a systematic action plan for that. Our first priority will be to create a favourable environment for new and effective economic operators."