ART DE LEX experts spoke at the round table on "Issues in the Development and Regulation of Electronic Document Management in Russia" on 22 May 2018

The roundtable participants discussed the prospects and barriers for the development of inter-corporate electronic flow of legally significant documents, as well as the challenges for competition and the regulator in this area.

To respond to the current challenges from the market, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia presented for review by the expert community the “fifth antimonopoly package” of amendments to the Law on Protection of Competition, the purpose of which is to assess the position of individual subjects of commodity markets where prices are generated using digital platforms. Thus, in the conditions of the rapid development of the digital economy and software systems for the interactive exchange of documents between market participants, a departure from the use of traditional tools for the economic analysis of commodity markets is necessary. The market power of many electronic document management (ED) operators is determined by ownership of large databases and the effects of their being linked in networks.

Kirill Dozmarov, attorney-at-law, head of the ART DE LEX Competition Law Practice Group, told the audience about the main problems of proving cartel collusion and coordination in commodity markets using digital platforms and ED. "The desire to minimize transaction costs makes entrepreneurs choose the simplest methods of restricting competition and monopolizing markets - cartel agreements. In the context of developing digital technologies, competition authorities risk falling behind the constantly improving mechanisms of cartelization of commodity markets in the absence of new methods of proof and clear rules of the game in the market for digital platforms and ED operators. Outdated cartel models will become a thing of the past and will be replaced by almost unprovable digital cartels that will be powered by new technologies such as e-commerce, cloud storage, et cetera. In this regard, ED operators will be able to accumulate in their hands huge resources for moderating and coordinating the cartel's activities, thereby simultaneously lengthening the life cycle of the cartel itself,” Kirill summarized.

Tatyana Basova, Senior Economist of the ART DE LEX Competition Practice, suggested that JSC Wholesale Market Trading System Administrator should be included in the list of electronic document management operators submitted for consideration by the discussion participants. "ATS JSC, through the hardware and software complex of the trading system, exercises large-scale powers in the wholesale electricity market - organizes trading, provides settlements between electricity producers and buyers, as well as aggregates information about the formed prices and volumes of electricity purchase and sale. In 2017, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia investigated the actions of ATS JSC to organize annual competitive selection of generating facilities (based on renewable energy sources) for compliance with antimonopoly legislation. Based on the results of control measures, FAS Russia recognized the actions of ATS JSC to revise the information on the annual competitive selection as violating part 1 of Article 17 of the Law on Protection of Competition,” she noted.

In conclusion, the participants stressed the importance of modernization of the antimonopoly legislation to address the problems of the new economy.