At NCE were discussed amendments to the draft law on competition

Representatives of state bodies, associations and entrepreneurs from the regions (via video conference) took part in the meeting, devoted to the discussion of proposals for changes and additions to the law on competition. Moderator of the event, Deputy Chairman of NCE RK "Atameken" Yuliya Yakupbaeva stressed that work on the amendment of the law on competition is conducted within the framework of the five institutional reforms "One hundred concrete steps", where the Head of State identified the need to change the concept of work Antimonopoly Service and its adjustment in line with OECD standards (53 step).

Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Regulation of Natural Monopolies and Protection of Competition of the Ministry of National Economy Rustam Akhmetov spoke about the ongoing work on amendments to the draft law. According to him, the work was carried out in two stages. "At the 1st stage in 2015, we have introduced a conceptual thing - amendments and introduction of new regulatory institutions. First of all, the most important thing - we have abolished price regulation of markets, the rule will be implemented from 1^st of January 2017 ", - said the representative of OECD.

In addition, he said, there were introduced innovations such as a notice warning of the presence of a violation; warning about the inadmissibility of violation, a public statement of a person of the planned action, it is only a warning. Institute also introduced a collegiate body (conciliation commission, management tools, review with the participation of the public themselves subjects of dispute between the Antimonopoly Service and the subjects of the market). "Now we are ready to make changes for the improvement of the Institute for a practical application. There was introduced the rule, which provide the right for the competition authority to issue follow-up orders to state agencies on the development of competition. It has already being used and shows a good effect, "- said the expert.

Akhmetov said that at the second stage was developed a draft law, which has already been discussed at several meetings of the working groups, and is Mazhilis now. "Here we have provided a number of amendments, detailing the competence of the antimonopoly authority, the inquiry procedure, implementations of their functions. We have clarifies the issues of interaction with law enforcement bodies, we suggested to increase the investigation period, adopted approaches to the application of the prohibitions in accordance with the foreign antitrust practice in terms of the elimination of seizures in exclusion of rights. Changing attitudes to the state control over economic concentration, we have divided into two stages. The first one is simplified, according to which a large part will be held under the simplified procedure, the second - where a thorough analysis is required", - he explained.

According to the official, the draft law also changed the approaches to the recognition of a dominant position of market participants: more than 30% but not more than 50%, and in the presence of market power. The bill provides for the introduction of anti-monopoly compliance, i.e. the possibility for the market subject to sum up their practice of interaction with the Antimonopoly Service and submit a draft, defining certain risks and violations detailing the issues of interaction.

Akhmetov said that the Committee made proposals for the decriminalization of criminal responsibility. "We propose to introduce criminal responsibility for anticompetitive agreements, but at the stage of negotiation with the state authorities, these proposals were not supported. However, we intend to re-discuss these amendments in Parliament", - he said.

It was noted that during the first phase of the deliberations the proposal, regarding the exclusion from the draft law of the new type of prescription (to carry out actions aimed at ensuring competition on the basis of the analysis of the state of competition in product markets) with respect to business entities was approved by "Atameken". The proposal of NCE was partially supported on the change of approaches to the anticompetitive concerted actions of the market entities. However, the proposals of the Chamber on the improvement of commodity market analysis procedure (registration of the start of the analysis by the order of the head of the antimonopoly authority and placement of it on the website) and reduction of the maximum period of the analysis of the commodity market from the proposed 12 months to 6 months and the possibility of extension in exceptional circumstances for another 3 months were not accepted. Another proposal for improving the notification institution is expansion to other signs of abuse of dominant position and unfair competition, was not taken into account too, now it is re-discussed at a working group under the Mazhilis of the Parliament. The similar discussion of the revision of the level of fines for abuse of dominant position is held by the working group of the Mazhilis.

According to Yuliya Yakupbaeva, within the framework of the meetings of the Working Group of the Mazhilis of the Parliament were considered 115 amendments of MPs, Committee on Economic Reform and Regional Development and the legislation department of the Mazhilis, of them – 85 were adopted, 30 – are pending.

In particular, it is planned to discuss the issues on changing the level of fines for violations of competition protection legislation; functions of the antimonopoly authority on request of bank secrecy, security secrets and commercial secrets in the securities market; it was established that "unreasonable" refusal is acknowledged as the cartel, the exclusion of the form of anti-competitive agreements; changing approaches to anticompetitive concerted actions of the market entities; change in the recognition criteria of the dominant position of the market entity; revision of unfair competition; the order of the actions of the conciliation commission to act during the antitrust investigation in respect of the National Bank of Kazakhstan; improvement of the Institute of notification through expansion to other signs of abuse of dominant position and unfair competition; the exclusion of certain activities from the areas of natural monopolies.

In addition, the National Chamber continues to receive comments and suggestions from associations and businesses to the antimonopoly legislation, including the draft law. For example, the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan offers to exclude the right of the antimonopoly authority for the issuance of regulations for the cancellation of the transaction and request information on banking secrecy, secret of insurance and trade secrets in the securities market; review the recognition criterion of dominant position of financial institutions; exclude new amendment to conduct independent expert evaluation of the damages caused to the vehicle. In this regard, Yuliya Yakupbaeva suggested to the Association to prepare and to submit to the National Chamber a revised edition of the draft law with its proposals. She also added that the NCE will hold a separate meeting on the proposals of the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan with the participation of representatives of the Committee.

Association “KAZLOGISTICS”, in turn, asks to consider removal of sea ports from under the price regulation with the status of international importance, and establishing tariffs for them in foreign currency. Their proposal was also taken into consideration. But a spokesman for the Association of Entrepreneurs of maritime transport has not agreed to this proposal and spoke about the inadmissibility of the full removal of price regulation under the seaports services.

The proposals of the Association “KAZENERGY” on preservation of state regulation of prices in the field of port activities (the provision of oil and grain terminals, handling of transshipment cargo via ferry complex, handling, carried out by means of the port) were also presented at the meeting. According to the opinion of the business community, the cancellation may lead to an increase in the cost of ship entry at the port of Aktau.

Eurasian Industrial Association insists on maintaining state regulation of tariffs for services of locomotive traction and transportation of goods by rail. The EIA believes that the presentation of the credit information by subject of a natural monopoly to the credit bureau with state participation should be its right, not an obligation.

Yuliya Yakupbaeva noted that in connection with this NCE will organize a separate meeting on the subject of presentation of credit information by the natural monopoly subject to the credit bureau with the participation of representatives of the subjects of natural monopolies, the Committee and the Credit Bureau. Also, according to her, it will take into account proposals of the Eurasian Industrial Association on the new amendments to the draft law upon submission of an expert opinion.

It should be noted that recently NCE received from the Ministry of National Economy further amendments to the conclusion on introduction of the institute of private monopolies; the introduction of price regulation in the markets of socially important goods; distribution of a special order of regulation of natural monopolies involved in attracting loans from international financial organizations, on all subjects, attracting investments for implementation of investment programs. MNE also asks "Atameken" to make proposals for the establishment of a state monopoly on the protection of objects subject to state protection; a change in the law "On compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners in terms of assessing the damages caused to the vehicle by an independent expert.

Summing up the work of the meeting, Yuliya Yakupbaeva urged regional chambers of entrepreneurs, associations and business entities in the region as soon as possible to submit their proposals to the draft law. She also reported that at NCE will be created Tariff Council, and asked participants to offer their candidacy for inclusion in the Council.