OREANDA-NEWS. April 09, 2014. The 62nd Spring Session of the Antitrust Law Section of American Bar Association (ABA) took place in Washington, DC (the USA). The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) was represented by the Head of FAS Analytical Department, Alexei Sushkevich.

American Bar Association numbers around 10,000 members; and nearly 2000 members specialize on the antimonopoly law.

The 62nd Spring Session of the Antitrust Law Section focused on such important issues as analysis of antimonopoly regulation in China, antimonopoly regulation and state-of-the-art technologies, in particular, used at the Internet, as well as efficiency of the procedures, according to which the antimonopoly authority exposes violations of the antimonopoly law and considers petitions about transactions.

Due to the specifics of regulation in each state, the issues of competition in the USA are considered not only by two main bodies – the Antitrust Division of the Department, of Justice (cartel investigations, merger control) and the Federal Trade Commission (antimonopoly regulation, consumer rights protection), but also by industry regulators and state judges.

Alexei Sushkevich informed the Session participants about the structure, powers and functions of the competition authority of the Russian Federation and about the Lawyers Association in Russia.

ABA members were especially interested in the anti-cartel efforts of the Antimonopoly Service, particularly, on exposing bid-rigging in public procurement.

“According to the departmental statistics, in 2013 FAS exposed 114 bid-rigging cartels. The total fines reached around 3.3 billion RUB”, summed up the Head of FAS Analytical Department.