Ex-ante vs ex-post regulation of digital markets based on the experience of the Eurasian Economic Commission, EAEU member states, international experience and the position of the Eurasian Economic Union Court, including digital detection of bid rigging as well as digitalization in public procurement will be discussed at the session ‘Ex-Ante vs Ex-Post Regulation of Competition, Collusion in State Procurement, and Digital Transformation’ at the Eurasian Economic Forum (24–25 May, Moscow). The operator of the event is the Roscongress Foundation.
When choosing approaches to regulating digital markets, a balance must be struck between preserving incentives for their development and protecting competition and the interests of consumers/users, as well as the public interest of the government and society. Lack of regulatory attention to digital markets may lead to rapid monopolization, but the introduction of too strict of a regulation may lead to a decrease in the quality of services and their competitiveness, and a decrease in incentives to develop innovative products. In such circumstances, antitrust infringements are moving towards digital realities, with active use of information technology. To successfully counteract modern cartels, competition authorities are introducing digital technologies to identify transactions that violate competition rules. Increasing the digitalization of public procurement, including the interoperability of procurement systems with other information systems and resources, helps to level the playing field for competition in procurement by reducing administrative barriers and the burden on businesses when participating in public procurement.
The following participants are expected to join the session Bakyt Sultanov, Member of the Board (Minister) for Competition and Antimonopoly Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission; Erna Hayriyan, Chairman of the Court of the Eurasian Economic Union; Maksim Shaskolsky, Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS Russia); Alexey Lavrov, Deputy Finance Minister of the Russian Federation; Ulugbek Kalenderov, Deputy Minister of Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic; Willard Mwemba, Director and Chief Executive Officer of Comesa Competition Commission; Teresa Moreira, Head of the Competition and Consumer Policies Branch, of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); Aleksey Sushkevich, Director of the Department for Antitrust Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission; Zhanar Adikova, Director of the Department for Competition and Public Procurement Policy of the Eurasian Economic Commission; Sergey Belyakov, Managing Director of Ozon; Farrukh Karabaev, Deputy Chairman of the Competition Promotion and Consumer Protection Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan; and Shushan Sargsyan, member of the Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Armenia. The session will be moderated by Aleksey Ivanov, Director of the International BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre.
The second Eurasian Economic Forum is being held as part of the Russian Federation’s presidency of the EAEU bodies in 2023. The aim of the Forum is to improve cooperative ties in the Eurasian space. The Forum programme includes some 35 sessions, which will be divided into seven thematic tracks: ‘Human Capital’, ‘Technology and Cooperation’, ‘The EAEU in a Changing World’, ‘Eurasian Collectiveness’, as well as ‘The EAEU Internal Market: Cooperation in Customs, Competition, and State Procurement’, the strategic section, and the EAEU Business Council section.
The full programme is available on the official Forum website.
