On August 23, Alexey Ivanov, Director of the International BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre, gave a master class on "Antitrust Regulation vs. Control and Supervisory Activities" in Kazan as part of the FAS Russia project Academy #LeadersOfFAS.
According to Ivanov, the misconception of antitrust as a type of control and supervisory activity contradicts its original nature and turns out that in a difficult economic situation the authorities exempt businesses from antitrust inspections. Thus, FAS is deprived of the opportunity to demonstrate its anti-crisis function.
Control and supervisory activities are always clear rules and formal certainty, which does not allow for discretion on the part of the authority. Antitrust, on the contrary, is a tool for the development of a modern dynamic economy and implies a margin of appreciation and analysis on the part of the regulator, Ivanov is convinced.
"At the same time, the concept of the primacy of consumer welfare brought to antitrust by the Chicago School of the 1980s and the absolutization of price efficiency are not suitable for the new economy. The new goals of antitrust are diversity, environmental sustainability, and social justice,"
said the BRICS Centre Director.
The peculiarity of the new economy is that it is a fluid, changeable environment. Digital ecosystems, unlike the factories of the industrial era, are able to restructure and respond to external changes, including escaping regulatory control. We should also take into account the non-linear dynamics of modern economic processes, the diversity of agents operating in a complex economy and the absence of equilibrium in it.
For more effective antitrust enforcement in this context, competition authorities need to change their regulatory approach. In particular, they need to adopt an ecosystem approach to digital markets and view modern economic processes through the theory of complex adaptive systems.
Competition protection can be an effective tool to address the global economic crisis and make economies more sustainable. In their work, regulators need to take into account the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in all their complex interconnections. They are enshrined in the UN GA Resolution of September 25, 2015 and reflected in the Presidential Decree on Russia's national development goals until 2030, Ivanov reminded.
The #LeadersOfFAS project was launched by FAS Russia on April 15, 2019 for the agency's employees. The project is based on a series of specially designed lectures and master classes on antimonopoly regulation issues, as well as aimed at developing personal effectiveness, management and communication skills.
The project combines the best human resources practices of FAS Russia on selection and development of future heads of structural subdivisions/territorial bodies and modern methods of comprehensive personnel assessment.
At the end of 6 months of training and competitive selection, the organizing committee of the project will determine 5 winners who will receive mentors from among the best managers of the Antimonopoly Service, a certificate for training and an opportunity to take an internship abroad.
