The 57th meeting of the Interstate Council for Antimonopoly Policy of the Commonwealth of Independent States' (CIS) Countries (ICAP) was held on 29 November 2024 in Samarkand, Republic of Uzbekistan, preceded by the 43rd Meeting of the Headquarters for Jointly Investigestion of Violations of Antimonopoly Legislation of the CIS Member States (hereinafter referred to as the Headquarters), which was held a day earlier. 

The event was attended by delegations from the antimonopoly authorities of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of the Eurasian Economic Commission, the Regional Commonwealth in the field of communications, the CIS Executive Committee, the Eurasian Alliance of Antimonopoly Experts, the Association of Non-Profit Partnership ‘Association of Corporate Lawyers’, the Association of Antimonopoly Experts, the Council of Antimonopoly Experts of the Republic of Uzbekistan, UzAssets and UzRTSB.

During the 43rd meeting of the Headquarters, chaired by the Head of the Headquarters, State Secretary - Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (FAS Russia) Sergey Puzyrevsky, a number of topical issues and perspectives in the work of antimonopoly services in the region were considered.

Thus, the participants of the meeting considered and agreed to submit the report ‘Prevention of Violations of Antimonopoly Legislation of the CIS Member States’ for consideration by the ICAP. They also considered the progress of work of the Headquarters on preparation of the report ‘Normative-legal regulation in the sphere of state regulation of prices (tariffs)’, on the results of discussion of which the participants of the meeting of the Headquarters outlined future steps for its finalisation.

Significant interest of the meeting participants was also revealed during the discussion of the preparation of a model document on the practices of interaction between marketplaces and rights holders and sellers in order to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods.

In addition, the participants of the meeting considered and discussed such issues as the progress of the Headquarters' work on the preparation of the report “Civil Legal Protection of Victims of Competition Violations” and on the preparation of information material on the implementation of the decision of the Commission on Economic Affairs “On the Development and Adoption by the Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy of Model Principles and Standards for the Activities of Digital Market Participants of the CIS Member-States”.

During the discussion of the new directions of the Headquarters' activities, RCC Director General, Alexey Borodin, noted that today the introduction of new technologies and communication systems is inextricably linked to the need to develop a competitive environment and consumer rights. 

For example, the opening of national markets to foreign ICT systems and technologies requires the simultaneous creation of a level playing field for national companies, while the increasing adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems poses challenges for competition and antitrust practitioners, including those related to ensuring consumer rights in such areas as the processing of ICT device user data - the right of users to authorise or refuse processing, the right of users to refuse processing, and the right of users to refuse processing, and the right of consumers to have their data processed.

In addition, the RCC Director General presented practical mechanisms for the implementation of cooperation between HQ and the Commonwealth on cross-cutting issues of their activities in the field of competition policy.

Having heard the information presented, the Headquarters agreed to include in its work a joint study with the RCC of issues related to artificial intelligence and its impact on competition in the markets of the CIS Member-States. This work will be led by the FAS of Russia with the assistance of the RCC.

On 29 November, as part of the 57th meeting of the ICAP, the heads of the antimonopoly services of the CIS Member-States, chaired by the Chairman of the ICAP, Head of the FAS of Russia Maxim Shaskolsky, heard information on:

- the implementation of the decisions of the 56th meeting of the ICAP,

- the most notable events that took place in the CISMember-States in the field of antimonopoly policy in the current period,

- the main events that took place within the CIS,

- FAS Russia's experience in applying soft law tools to create a favourable competitive environment in the markets,

- activities of the Headquarters.

ICAP Members approved the decision to include in the activities of the Headquarters a joint study with the RCC of issues related to artificial intelligence and its impact on competition in the markets of the CIS Member-States as a new area of work. 

Within the framework of the meeting the report ‘Prevention of Violations of Antimonopoly Legislation of the CIS Member-States’ submitted by the Headquarters for consideration by the ICAP was approved. The report will be submitted to the CIS Executive Committee for further consideration by the relevant bodies of the Commonwealth. 

During the meeting, the ICAP members also considered the election of the ICAP Chairman for the next two years (2025-2026) - with unanimous support, Alexey Bogdanov, Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade of the Republic of Belarus, was elected Chairman.

The first 2025 ICAP meeting will be held in Moscow, Russian Federation, in an extended format with the participation of members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the second 2025 meeting is planned to be held in Brest, Republic of Belarus.