Competition Law & Policy of Kazakhstan: Alexey Ivanov at the Astana Economic Forum

On 25 May, the Director of the Institute participated in the session "Promoting Competition: the new rules of the game" with a detailed report on his comprehensive evaluation of the situation in Kazakhstan in the field of competition and compliance with law and policy in terms of the OECD framework.

We recall that in the spring of last year Alexey, on behalf of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development conducted an in-depth analysis of the antitrust legislation and enforcement in close cooperation with the Antitrust authorities of Kazakhstan. The results of the evaluation were presented at the Global Forum on Competition, OECD, 29-30 October 2015.

 
The main task of the meeting in the framework of IX Astana Economic Forum was to show the role of antitrust regulation and competition in the development of modern economic policy for the Republic of Kazakhstan and the prospects of its further development. The national plan - "One Hundred Concrete Steps," envisaged by President of Kazakhstan N. Nazarbayev, provided the opportunity to align the antitrust service with OECD standards and international best practices.

 

Alexey noted that the competition law of Kazakhstan requires more flexibility in terms of competition and the judiciary should be more involved in the decision-making process, so as to avoid formalism. Also Ivanov spoke of rigid procedural deadlines, and a lack of judicial specialization on competition law, in particular, regarding objective verification procedures for the courts. As another negative point, the Institute Director noted the blurred focus of activities of the antitrust body: significant resources are directed to customer requests, meanwhile, it is necessary to concentrate on the protection of competition.

 

In addition to Alexey, the session was attended by the Chairman of the OECD Competition Committee, Frédéric Jenny, a regular participant of the international activities of the Institute, who is dedicated to antitrust regulation; and the Chairman of the Committee for Regulation of Natural Monopolies and Protection of Competition for the Ministry of the National Economy of Kazakhstan, Serik Zhumangarin, as well as several representatives of the state authorities of Kazakhstan.