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DEFENDER'S ASSESSMENT OF THE RA STATE COMMISSION FOR THE PROTECTION OF ECONOMIC COMPETITION ACTIVITIES IN 2011
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/country25622.html
Published: 10:58:53 - 29/03/2012
The revealed problems and registered achievements during 2011 in
the area of responsibility of the Commission are presented below,
though they are not exhaustive.
The RA Law "About the Protection of Economic Competition" was adopted
in 2000, and the Commission in Armenia was established in 13 January
2001. In 2011 the RA Law "About the Protection of Economic Competition"
was reconsidered and as a result it was complied with international
standards to a high degree. The new version of the Law gave wider
opportunities to the Commission for working more effective.
Despite all this, the level of assurance of economic competition
in RA is still not sufficient. According to indicators of the World
Economic Forum, though Armenia has registered a certain progress by
the coefficient of efficiency of anti-monopoly policy, it continued
occupying low positions in the internal competition and efficiency
of anti-monopoly policy level. Only in 2011, 12 commodity markets out
of 13, analyzed by the Commission, were rated as highly concentrated.
There were also cases of hindrance for entering the market of new
economic entities by dominant entities in those markets.
Though, the number of decisions of the Commission to subject economic
entities to responsibility during 2011 raised twice compared to the
previous year, which resulted in the increase of about 6 times of the
the sums paid to the RA State Budget have, however, in appropriate
cases the measures taken by the Commission did not reflect the real
picture of violations of the competitive legislation existing in
different commodity markets and did not make sufficient influence on
the situation of the protection of economic competition in the country.
Measures taken by the Commission for termination and prevention
of cases of anti-competitive operations were not sufficient. The
Commission with its decisions subjected several economic entities to
responsibility for anti-competitive operations. The economic entities
appealed against the Commission decisions not carrying out their
requirements. During the entire trial period, which can last for 2
years, the Commission did not take any measures to ensure the process
of implementation of its decisions. For instance, the Commission
has a power to subject an economic entity to responsibility for not
implementing the Commission's decision, but the Commission waited
until the trial was completed.
Measures taken by the Commission for termination and prevention of
cases of unfair competition were not sufficient as well. A case was
registered of production and realization of vodka by "Alex Grig"
company which had almost similar name creating confusion. In this
regard the Commission started proceedings in 2009, and the company
appealed to court to protest the Commission's decision. The Commission
applied a penalty to the company for unfair competition, as well
as required from the company to eliminate the violation, that is to
remove the production from circulation in 1-month period. According
to RA Law "About Protection of Economic Competition" a possibility
of administrative responsibility is prescribed for not implementing
the Commission decisions, as well as ban on its operation suspention
in case of appealing against the Commission's decision. However,
during 2 years the Commission did not take sufficient measures for
applying adequate means of administrative responsibility towards
economic entity, which did not implement its decisions.
Though according to the last changes in the RA Law "About Protection
of Economic Entities" the Commission's powers in the process of
obtaining evidences regarding anti-competitive operations were
extended, however, the instruments were not sufficient for the
Commission to effectively carry out the control over protection of
economic competition. In particular, the Commission does not have
such powers in the area of inspectations, which allow them to obtain
evidences on hidden violations of the RA Law "About Protection of
Economic Entities", such as anti-competitive agreement, participants
of which- economic entities- take all measures to keep their agreement
in secret. Competition protection authorities almost in all countries
have a wide range of powers of inspection, which gives opportunities
to reveal even the most confidential agreements. That is the reason,
that all international experts, who are studying the RA legislation
on competitiveness, suggested to endure inspection powers to the
Commission.
The Commission did not take sufficient measures to raise the public
awareness on issues of economic competition, which in its turn
reduced effectiveness of assurance and protection of consumers'
rights. Though the Commission's official website was operating, it
contained insufficient information on the issues of the area. At
the same time the website even didn't include statistics of the
Commission's activities. The Commission's activities' publicity and
transparency in respect of issues of selling low quality and expired
products, groundless raising of prices of products, and other issues
of public importance which appeared as a result of unfair activities of
economic entities in competition sphere were not sufficiently ensured.
Karen Andreasyan,
Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia
The list of the identified positive developments, gaps and shortcomings
is not exhaustive.
The introduced Chapter (23) of the HRD Annual Report 2011 is available
in full at http://pashtpan.am/pages/downloadPdf/file_id/574.
The HRD Annual Report 2011 was developed based on the complaints
received by the Staff of the Human Rights Defender, legislation
analysis, trustworthy and non-disclaimed publications in press,
reports of the international and local organizations as well as
information received during the interviews with field specialists
and human rights defenders.
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/country25622.html
Published: 10:58:53 - 29/03/2012
The revealed problems and registered achievements during 2011 in
the area of responsibility of the Commission are presented below,
though they are not exhaustive.
The RA Law "About the Protection of Economic Competition" was adopted
in 2000, and the Commission in Armenia was established in 13 January
2001. In 2011 the RA Law "About the Protection of Economic Competition"
was reconsidered and as a result it was complied with international
standards to a high degree. The new version of the Law gave wider
opportunities to the Commission for working more effective.
Despite all this, the level of assurance of economic competition
in RA is still not sufficient. According to indicators of the World
Economic Forum, though Armenia has registered a certain progress by
the coefficient of efficiency of anti-monopoly policy, it continued
occupying low positions in the internal competition and efficiency
of anti-monopoly policy level. Only in 2011, 12 commodity markets out
of 13, analyzed by the Commission, were rated as highly concentrated.
There were also cases of hindrance for entering the market of new
economic entities by dominant entities in those markets.
Though, the number of decisions of the Commission to subject economic
entities to responsibility during 2011 raised twice compared to the
previous year, which resulted in the increase of about 6 times of the
the sums paid to the RA State Budget have, however, in appropriate
cases the measures taken by the Commission did not reflect the real
picture of violations of the competitive legislation existing in
different commodity markets and did not make sufficient influence on
the situation of the protection of economic competition in the country.
Measures taken by the Commission for termination and prevention
of cases of anti-competitive operations were not sufficient. The
Commission with its decisions subjected several economic entities to
responsibility for anti-competitive operations. The economic entities
appealed against the Commission decisions not carrying out their
requirements. During the entire trial period, which can last for 2
years, the Commission did not take any measures to ensure the process
of implementation of its decisions. For instance, the Commission
has a power to subject an economic entity to responsibility for not
implementing the Commission's decision, but the Commission waited
until the trial was completed.
Measures taken by the Commission for termination and prevention of
cases of unfair competition were not sufficient as well. A case was
registered of production and realization of vodka by "Alex Grig"
company which had almost similar name creating confusion. In this
regard the Commission started proceedings in 2009, and the company
appealed to court to protest the Commission's decision. The Commission
applied a penalty to the company for unfair competition, as well
as required from the company to eliminate the violation, that is to
remove the production from circulation in 1-month period. According
to RA Law "About Protection of Economic Competition" a possibility
of administrative responsibility is prescribed for not implementing
the Commission decisions, as well as ban on its operation suspention
in case of appealing against the Commission's decision. However,
during 2 years the Commission did not take sufficient measures for
applying adequate means of administrative responsibility towards
economic entity, which did not implement its decisions.
Though according to the last changes in the RA Law "About Protection
of Economic Entities" the Commission's powers in the process of
obtaining evidences regarding anti-competitive operations were
extended, however, the instruments were not sufficient for the
Commission to effectively carry out the control over protection of
economic competition. In particular, the Commission does not have
such powers in the area of inspectations, which allow them to obtain
evidences on hidden violations of the RA Law "About Protection of
Economic Entities", such as anti-competitive agreement, participants
of which- economic entities- take all measures to keep their agreement
in secret. Competition protection authorities almost in all countries
have a wide range of powers of inspection, which gives opportunities
to reveal even the most confidential agreements. That is the reason,
that all international experts, who are studying the RA legislation
on competitiveness, suggested to endure inspection powers to the
Commission.
The Commission did not take sufficient measures to raise the public
awareness on issues of economic competition, which in its turn
reduced effectiveness of assurance and protection of consumers'
rights. Though the Commission's official website was operating, it
contained insufficient information on the issues of the area. At
the same time the website even didn't include statistics of the
Commission's activities. The Commission's activities' publicity and
transparency in respect of issues of selling low quality and expired
products, groundless raising of prices of products, and other issues
of public importance which appeared as a result of unfair activities of
economic entities in competition sphere were not sufficiently ensured.
Karen Andreasyan,
Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia
The list of the identified positive developments, gaps and shortcomings
is not exhaustive.
The introduced Chapter (23) of the HRD Annual Report 2011 is available
in full at http://pashtpan.am/pages/downloadPdf/file_id/574.
The HRD Annual Report 2011 was developed based on the complaints
received by the Staff of the Human Rights Defender, legislation
analysis, trustworthy and non-disclaimed publications in press,
reports of the international and local organizations as well as
information received during the interviews with field specialists
and human rights defenders.