OREANDA-NEWS.  October 11, 2012. An Annual Conference of the International Bar Association (IBA) was held in Dublin (Ireland). Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) Andrey Tsyganov took part in the Conference, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The Conference was attended by over 5,000 leading lawyers from across the globe, including experts in the antimonopoly law.

Speakers at the opening ceremony included a Noble laureate in economics Joseph Stiglitz and the Irish Prime-Minister Enda Kenny.

At the Conference, the IBA Antimonopoly Committee discussed some pressing issues of the antimonopoly law. In particular, analysis of mergers, including cross-border mergers; the role and place of competition law in regional and bilateral trade agreements; and the procedures for private actions for damages incurred through violating competition law.

Andrey Tsyganov addressed a special secession focused on competition efficiency in the BRICS countries. Other speakers included the Heads of competition authorities of BRICS countries: the Commissioner of the Competition Commission of South Africa, Shan Ramburuth; the Commissioner of the Administrative Council for Economic Defence of Brazil, Elvino Mendonca; and the Chairman of the Competition Commission of India, Ashok Chawla. Deputy Head of FAS discussed specifics of antimonopoly regulation in Russia and efficient use of the best international experience of competition enforcement, using the examples of Recommendations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Deve3lopment (OECD), the European Union and the International Competition Network (ICN). Special attention was paid to FAS cooperation with competition authorities of the BRICS countries based on both bilateral cooperation agreements and multilateral agreements (the Joint Communique and the Beijing Consensus)1.

Mr. Tsyganov and the Vice-President of the International Bar Association, Michael Reynolds discussed further steps towards strengthening cooperation in the field of competition policy and agreed to continue joint efforts.

Andrey Tsyganov also was the speaker presenting the book on “Compeititon Law in BRICS Countries” written together with competition authorities and lawyers specializing in the antimonopoly law of the BRICS countries. The project was an initiative of the International Bar Association. FAS has played the key role in coordinating the efforts of competition authorities of the BRICS countries towards writing the book. The idea to do the book leaped at the First BRICS Conference in Kazan in 20092.

“FAS intends to continue its efforts to develop cooperation in the field of competition policy with BRICS, in both bilateral format and in the BRICS format. Undoubtedly, it will facilitate the Action Plan adopted by the BRICS leaders at the summit in New Delhi (India) on 29th March 2012”, stated Mr. Tsyganov.

At the Conference, Andrey Tsyganov also gave an interview to Global Competition Review - an influential international publication. Deputy Head of FAS confirmed an intention of Russia’s Antimonopoly Service to achieve the ranking among the top ten agencies in the performance rating of competition authorities published by Global Competition Review.

1) The Beijing Consensus of the II BRICS International Competition Conference between Competition Authorities of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa (Beijing, 21st September 2011)

2) The Joint Communique of the meeting of the Heads of Competition Authorities of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India and the People's Republic of China, as a result of the BRIC International Competition Conference (Kazan, 1st September 2009).

Reference:

The International Bar Association, formed in 1947, is a the leading organization of lawyers involved in developing international law and legal practice. IBA facilitates exchanging information between associations of lawyers across the world.

For a long period FAS has been engaged in active cooperation with the International Bar Association under both bilateral format and by participation in the events organized by the Association. The purpose of such cooperation is to ensure effective involvement and coordination of the efforts of the government regulators and the legal community to establish unified law enforcement and equal competition conditions.