The 16^th session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on competition law and policy(IGE) UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) ended on 7 July 2017 in Geneva (Switzerland). A decision was made to UNCTAD Discussion Group on international cooperation between competition authorities to reinforce Section F of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices (UN Competition Set).

The Discussion Group is a response to FAS initiative on drafting an international Toolkit to counter restrictive business practices of large corporations and cross-border violations of competition. The draft Toolkit was presented by Head of FAS Igor Artemiev at IGE UNCTAD session on international cooperation on 6 July 2017. The initiative was supported by delegations representing a lot of countries.

Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov pointed out: “Thanks to an active FAS position to promote the Toolkit at various international platforms, including EAEU, CIS, BRICS and OECD, we have secured project support from a considerable number of countries”.  

The Discussion Group will comprise representatives of all interested countries on a voluntary basis to discuss the Toolkit text and devise a consensus-based document. The report on the work of theDiscussion Group will be delivered at the 17^th IGE UNCTAD session in July 2018 in Geneva. It is expected that the Discussion Group will continue its activities until the United Nations Conference to Review the UN Competition Set in 2020 where the Toolkit may be approved and adopted as an Appendix to Section F of the UN Competition Set.

“Establishing the Discussion Group under the frame of UNCTAD, uniting representatives of competition authorities from all over the world is a very important step towards devising an international legal document on jointly countering restrictive practices of larges international companies. The decision made at the 16^th IGE UNCTAD session means that the significance of international cooperation is understood by all competition authorities”, commented Lesya Davydova, Head of FAS Department for International Economic Cooperation.