Press-release of 05.07.2010

The Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Protection of Competition (the Antimonopoly Agency) held a Research-to-Practice Conference "The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Competition": first outcome and Prospective Development".

The Conference was attended by representatives of the Office of the President the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Government of Kazakhstan, the heads of state agencies, Kazakh companies, the National Economic Chamber "Atameken", and the leading international experts in competition law.

The new Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Competition" came into effect on 1st January 2009; its main objective is to create favourable environment to encourage entrepreneurial activity and support small and medium business.

In his welcoming address, the Chairman of the Agency of the Republic for Kazakhstan on Protection of Competition (the Antimonopoly Agency), Mr. Mazhit Yesenbayev, expressed his gratitude to the authors and contributors to the new law and said that the first year of enforcement of the Law "On Competition" showed importance of antimonopoly regulation, especially in the period of the global economic crisis, which like an X-ray revealed "economic diseases" of the state and business.

"At the same time, contemporary integration processes, associated with the Customs Union and Single Economic Space, dictate the new rules of the competitive rivalry and accordingly require adequate antimonopoly regulation. In this context, it is very important to develop common vision regarding further improvement of the antimonopoly law for the benefit of all interested parties" pointed out Mazhit Yesenbayev.

The conference participants discussed strong as well as weak aspects of the Law and the latest trends in antimonopoly regulation.

In particular, experts of the World Bank highlighted the issues related to definition of market dominance.

Jozsef Sarai, Director of the International Department of Hungarian antimonopoly authority, talked about anti-cartel measures adopted in Hungary. He stated that Hungarian antimonopoly authority pays close attention to the leniency programme for the persons who provide information about cartels to the antimonopoly bodies.

Experts of the USAID project on "Enhancing competitive ability through economic reforms" focused their presentations on importance of strengthening institutional mechanisms of competition policy; and outlined the main success factors for competition authorities.

The Conference also discussed the issues of cartel agreements, economic concentration and competition advocacy and relevant enforcement practice in pursuance of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Competition".