Anti-Cartel Working Group

Anti-Cartel Working Group
Photo: https://ild.hse.ru/news/410135274.html 05.02.2021 762

On February 4, 2021, the first meeting of the UNCTAD Anti-Cartel Working Group took place. The meeting was attended by Alexey Ivanov, Director of the BRICS Antimonopoly Center, and Anna Pozdnyakova, Research Fellow of the Center.

The group was created in accordance with the resolution of the 8th conference on the revision of the UN Competition Complex in October 2020. As a reminder, the report "Combating Cross-Border Cartels: An Empirical Study" was presented at the round table on October 22 at the conference.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the formats of the Working Group's activities and possible topics for further discussion. Participants from 45 competition authorities, several international and non-governmental organisations presented their proposals.

The meetings are scheduled to be held 4-5 times a year. The issues for discussion will include both legal aspects of combating cross-border cartels and consideration of the successful experience of developed competition authorities and obstacles faced by developing jurisdictions in the framework of cross-border cartel cases.

"BRICS Competition Centre expresses its readiness to provide methodological and expert assistance to the Working Group's activities. The issues of combating cross-border cartels, the difficulties and obstacles that the antitrust authorities face in the investigation of global anti-competitive agreements, are among the central research topics of the Center. In 2020, at the UN Competition Complex Review Conference, we presented the results of an empirical study on the experience of combating cross-border cartels. Soon, we will launch the second stage of the study, within the framework of which further challenges will be identified related to the identification and investigation of cross-border cartels, as well as possible ways to overcome such challenges are considered," said Anna Pozdnyakova.

"Competition agencies around the world continue to face challenges in curbing cross-border cartels. This is evidenced by a study by the BRICS Competition Centre. In this regard, the activities of the Working Group, which has already united different countries, is of particular importance, since it will help to study a wide range of issues, summarise best practices and find possible ways to solve and overcome existing problems," said Lesya Davydova, Head of the FAS Russia International Economic Cooperation Department.

cross-border cartels 

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