Yaroslav Kulik, of ART DE LEX, will moderate “Public procurement in Russia: Participants’ views of the procurement process and the supervisory authority,” a session at the Seventh “Antimonopoly regulation in Russia” Conference

The seventh “Antimonopoly regulation in Russia” conference will take place on 16 October 2015. The Noncommercial Partnership “Competition Support Association” and the daily Vedomosti, with the support of the FAS of Russia, traditionally organize the event. The conference has become a key annual event in the sphere of antimonopoly regulation in Russia, and its participants hold the quality of its presentations in high regard.

The agenda of the current conference covers a number of topics: the main events of 2015 in the area of antimonopoly regulation that had a significant impact on competition; a plenary report on current antimonopoly policy from the head of the FAS of Russia, Igor Artemyav; regulatory issues for suppliers of food and retail chains; current issues in public procurement; major events and market development trends for drugs and medical devices; financial market competition during the economic crisis; specific problems about proof in antitrust investigations; and significant practical applications of antimonopoly laws.

Among the conference speakers will be the head of the FAS of Russia as well as leading lawyers and economists who specialize in competition law and its practical application.

One of the key conference sessions is “Public procurement in Russia: Participants’ views of the procurement process and the supervisory authority.” The moderators of the session will be Yaroslav Kulik, a partner and the head of Competition Practice of the ART DE LEX law firm and a member of the General Council of the Noncommercial Partnership “Competition Support Association,” together with the deputy head of the FAS of Russia, Andrey Tsarikovskiy.

For some time, the competency of the FAS has included monitoring legal compliance related to contracts (44-FZ) and procurement for certain types of legal entities (223-FZ). The purpose of the FAS of Russia has been to improve the normative legal base affecting these areas, and the agency’s enforcement of laws comes under the constant scrutiny of experts.

Participants in this session–customers, suppliers, FAS representatives, and invited experts–will consider legal problems about the application of public procurement legislation and discuss ways to improve enforcement. The session will be of interest to managers of contractual services for public and municipal customers, suppliers of goods and services, purchasing managers, and those interested in public procurement in Russia.

Representatives of major customers and specialists in the procurement process will be panelists for the session. They will discuss the following questions:

■ The operation of the contract system (44-FZ) and 223-FZ: Key statistics

■ Solutions to the lack of uniformity in the antitrust authorities’ application of 44-FZ and 223-FZ: The way forward

■ Disputed issues related to the application of the new requirements for the procurement of certain goods, works, and services: The Russian government resolutions of 4 February 2015, No. 99

■ Secret knowledge: What is an unscheduled inspection for compliance with procurement legislation?

■ Auctions and other methods of determining suppliers. This panel will consider avoidance to Federal law 223-FZ and the need to end this practice. It will include a review of legal practices and a discussion of controversial issues about the protection of the rights and interests of participants in the procurement process.

■ The principal differences of grievance procedures within 44-FZ and Article 18.1 of the Law on the protection of competition and their impact on legal practice. Does the grievance procedure agree with the expectations of businesses and customers?

■ What antimonopoly requirements for auctions does Article 17 of the Law on the protection of competition establish? This panel will discuss cases when the FAS applies Article 17 when making decisions on a complaint filed pursuant to Article 18.1 of the Law on the protection of competition. Participants will consider the most important legal positions regarding this practice.

■ The new role of collusion between customers and participants in the anticompetitive system: Restoring the logic of the law? This panel will involve a legal assessment of the proposed amendments to Article 17 of the Law on the protection of competition and the legal risks for participants of purchases.

■ The most important legal positions for the application of standards 44-FZ and 223-FZ when the courts and antitrust authorities have differing points of view: Rapprochements. This panel will consider how to use the legal positions of the courts when dealing with complaints involving the antitrust authorities.

The program of the Seventh annual “Antitrust regulation in Russia” conference is available here.