The meaning of the word fas. What is the Antimonopoly Service The competence of the Federal Antimonopoly Service includes

State educational institution of higher

vocational education

St. Petersburg State Institute of Technology

(Technical University)

Faculty of Economics and Management

Department of Management and Marketing

INDIVIDUAL WORK

discipline "Operations with securities"

"Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia"

Completed by: student of group 766

Popkova T.S.

Checked by: Mikitas M.A.

Saint Petersburg

Introduction 3

1. Mission, goals and functions of FAS 4

2. History of antimonopoly regulation in Russia 12

3. Powers and order of consideration of cases 14

4. Advisory bodies under the FAS Russia 18

5. State control over the concentration of capital in the financial services market 19

Conclusion 26

References 27

INTRODUCTION

The state antimonopoly policy is one of the most important mechanisms that ensure the achievement of all social and economic goals of society. Competition contributes to the development of the economy, stimulates scientific and technological progress, promotes the rational use of resources, improves the quality and, accordingly, the competitiveness of goods. That is why the development and support of competition is one of the priorities of the modern economic policy of the Russian state.

The actions of market competition, the free market inevitably gives rise to a monopoly, which changes the conditions of competition, and the mechanisms of the functioning of the market system are put under attack.

Monopolies, thanks to the high level of concentration of economic resources, create opportunities for accelerating technical progress. However, these opportunities are realized in cases where such acceleration contributes to the extraction of monopoly high profits. Joseph Schumpeter and other economists have argued that large firms with significant power are desirable in economics because they accelerate technological change, as firms with monopoly power can spend their monopoly profits on research to protect or reinforce their monopoly power. . By engaging in research, they provide benefits both to themselves and to society as a whole. But there is no convincing evidence that monopolies play a particularly important role in accelerating technological progress, since monopolies can delay the development of technical progress if it threatens their profits.

Antimonopoly policy is, of course, very important for the economy of the state. Well-thought-out measures to regulate monopolies contribute to the development of competition, the stabilization of the market and the improvement of the economy as a whole.

Mission, goals and functions of the FAS

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) is a federal executive body responsible for monitoring and supervising compliance with competition law in the commodity markets and the financial services market, natural monopolies, advertising, placing government orders, as well as publishing, within its competence, regulatory and individual legal acts in the established field of activity.

The head of the FAS Russia is Igor Yuryevich Artemyev.

The core of the Russian antimonopoly legislation is the Law of the RSFSR “On Competition and Restriction of Monopolistic Activities in Commodity Markets” dated March 22, 1991 (hereinafter referred to as the Law).
Monopolistic activity, according to Art. 4 of the Law, are actions (inaction) of economic entities or federal executive bodies, executive bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation and local governments aimed at preventing, restricting or eliminating competition that are contrary to antimonopoly legislation.

Section II of the Law is devoted to forms of monopolistic activity. It consists of five articles that provide for the regulation of the abuse of a dominant position in the market, vertical and horizontal (cartel) monopolistic agreements, the activities of executive authorities and local governments that restrict competition, as well as the inadmissibility of participation in entrepreneurial activities of officials of public authorities and public administration.

In paragraph 1 of Art. 5 of the Law establishes a general prohibition of abuse by an economic entity (group of persons) of a dominant position in the market. This prohibition applies to actions that have or may result in the restriction of competition and (or) infringement of the interests of other economic entities or individuals. The dominant position is recognized as the position of an economic entity, whose share in the market of a certain product (i.e., having no substitute or interchangeable goods) is 65% or more, unless the economic entity proves that, despite exceeding the specified value, its position the market is not dominant.

Exemplary forms of manifestation of abuse of a dominant position, specified in Art. 5 of the Law on Competition, the following:

Withdrawal of goods from circulation, the purpose or result of which is the creation or maintenance of a shortage in the market or an increase in prices;
- imposing on the counterparty the terms of the contract that are not beneficial for him or not related to the subject of the contract (unreasonable demands for the transfer of financial resources, other property, property rights, labor force of the counterparty, etc.);

Inclusion in the contract of discriminatory conditions that put the counterparty in an unequal position compared to other business entities;

Consent to conclude a contract only if provisions are made in it regarding goods in which the counterparty (consumer) is not interested;

Creating barriers to market access (exit from the market) to other business entities;

Violations of the pricing procedure established by regulatory enactments;

Establishment of monopolistically high (low) prices;

Reducing or stopping the production of goods for which there is a demand or orders from consumers in the presence of a break-even possibility of their production;

Unreasonable refusal to conclude an agreement with individual buyers (customers) if it is possible to manufacture or supply the relevant goods.

According to Art. 6 of the Law, anti-competitive agreements (concerted actions) are the most dangerous and common form of monopolistic activity in a market economy.

Paragraph 1 of this article concerns the so-called horizontal (cartel) agreements, i.e. agreements between business entities of the same level. Thus, fully or partially agreements (concerted actions) reached in any form by competing economic entities (potential competitors) with a total market share of a certain product of more than 35% are prohibited and invalidated in accordance with the established procedure, if such agreements may result in restriction of competition. .

Paragraph 2 of Art. 6 of the Law is devoted to vertical anti-competitive collusion. Thus, agreements (concerted actions) reached in any form by non-competing economic entities, one of which occupies a dominant position, and the other is its supplier or buyer (customer), are prohibited if such agreements (concerted actions) have or may result in restriction of competition. .

Articles 7 and 8 of the Law are directed against monopolistic activities in the field of economic management during the period of transition from the command-administrative system to market relations. It should be noted that these provisions are not inherent in the legislation of industrialized countries; they are more characteristic of countries with economies in transition.

According to paragraph 1 of Art. 7 of the Law, federal executive authorities, executive authorities of constituent entities of the Russian Federation and local governments are prohibited from adopting acts and (or) taking actions that limit the independence of economic entities, create discriminatory or, conversely, favorable conditions for the activities of individual economic entities, if such acts or actions have or may result in restriction of competition and (or) infringement of the interests of economic entities or citizens.

When merging, creating, joining commercial organizations, various manifestations of anti-competitive consequences are possible. Articles 17 and 18 of the Law regulate the control of the following types of economic concentration:

1) creation, merger and accession of associations of commercial organizations, as well as commercial organizations themselves;

2) the acquisition of certain blocks of shares (deposits, shares) in the authorized (share) capital of economic entities;

3) liquidation and division (separation) of state and municipal unitary enterprises (if this leads to the emergence of an economic entity whose share in the relevant commodity market exceeds 35%);

4) ownership or use by one business entity of fixed production assets and intangible assets of another business entity;

5) the acquisition by any person of the rights that allow determining the conditions for the conduct by an economic entity of its entrepreneurial activity;

6) interweaving directorates.

A whole law is devoted to it, which is the same - “On Protection of Competition”. This normative document defines competition as a rivalry between at least two business entities in conditions where none of them can unilaterally influence the conditions for the sale of goods and services produced by them. Accordingly, the law refers to unfair competition such actions of an economic entity, one or more, which are aimed at obtaining advantages in the implementation of entrepreneurial activities.

Since such actions do not guarantee equal conditions of sale, unfair competition is a factor hindering the development of enterprises offering better products and does not guarantee the consumer the opportunity to independently choose the product or service that suits him to a greater extent. Such activity is considered illegal and a special Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has been created to detect and suppress it.

Functions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service

Control over compliance with the laws of the market and free competition in Russia is entrusted to the FAS, whose functions include analyzing the state of competition in order to identify the dominant position of a particular entity, identifying cases of restricting or eliminating competition, as well as preventing such cases.

FAS was established in 2004 by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the main document regulating its activities is the “Regulations on the Federal Antimonopoly Service”. This state organization is endowed with great powers and controls the observance of antimonopoly laws by commercial and organizations. In addition, its functions also include control over enterprises that are natural monopolies, whose actions may infringe on the interests of consumers of the goods they produce. The FAS also controls the subjects of the wholesale and retail electricity markets, which, due to objective reasons, occupy an exclusive position in these markets.

Broad powers allow the antimonopoly service to apply to violators the measures of influence provided for by law, which are both restrictive and preventive, as well as preventive. It is assumed that these measures will be able to eliminate unfair competition and fully ensure the rights of consumers of goods and services.

House 11
55.763611 , 37.586944 55°45′49″ N sh. 37°35′13″ E d. /  55.763611° N sh. 37.586944° E d.(G)(O)

Number of employees 614 people (central office), 2576 people (territorial divisions) (2012) Supervisor I. Yu. Artemiev Secretary of State A. Yu. Tsarikovskiy Website fas.gov.ru

Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia)- the federal executive body, which performs the functions of adopting regulatory legal acts and monitoring compliance with antimonopoly legislation, legislation in the field of activities of natural monopoly entities (in terms of the powers of the antimonopoly body established by law), advertising, control over foreign investment in business companies with a strategic importance for ensuring the defense of the country and the security of the state, as well as for control in the field of placing orders for the supply of goods, performance of work, provision of services for federal state needs (with the exception of the authority to control in the field of placement of orders for the supply of goods, performance of work, provision of services for state defense order, as well as in the field of placing orders for the supply of goods, performance of work, provision of services for federal state needs that are not related to the state defense order, information about which constitutes a state secret).

Story

The predecessor of the Federal Antimonopoly Service - the State Committee of the RSFSR for Antimonopoly Policy and Support of New Economic Structures (GKAP of Russia) was formed in accordance with the Law of the RSFSR of July 14, 1990 "On Republican Ministries and State Committees of the RSFSR". Valery Chernogorodsky was appointed Chairman of the Committee. The staffing of the staff of the apparatus was determined at 150 units, the Temporary Regulations on the SCAP of Russia were introduced, which was approved by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR of September 10, 1990 No. 344.

In order to implement the Address to the Federal Assembly of 1997 in terms of bringing the structure and structure of federal executive bodies in line with the requirements of economic transformations, Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of March 17, 1997 No. 249 “On improving the structure of federal executive bodies” The State Committee of the Russian Federation for Antimonopoly policy and support of new economic structures was transformed into the State Antimonopoly Committee of the Russian Federation. In August 1997, Natalia Fonareva was appointed Chairman of the Committee.

On September 22, 1998, Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 1142 “On the structure of federal executive bodies” abolished the State Antimonopoly Committee of the Russian Federation (Chairman N. E. Fonareva), the State Committee of the Russian Federation for the Support and Development of Small Business (Chairman I. M. Khakamada), the Federal Service of the Russian Federation for the Regulation of Natural Monopolies in Transport (Head V. I. Budko) and the Federal Service of the Russian Federation for the Regulation of Natural Monopolies in the Field of Communications (Head V. M. Goryachev). In their place, the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Antimonopoly Policy and Entrepreneurship Support (MAP of Russia) was formed, to which the functions of the abolished bodies were transferred. Gennady Khodyrev was appointed minister.

The number of employees of the central office (440 units without personnel for the protection and maintenance of buildings) was approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 25, 1998 No. 1564 “Issues of the Ministry of the Russian Federation on antimonopoly policy and business support”. Departments were formed in the structure of the central office: for legal issues, development of competition in financial markets and control over compliance with legislation on stock exchanges, development and support of entrepreneurship, regulation of the activities of natural monopolies in the field of communications, regulation of the activities of natural monopolies in transport. The Regulations on the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Antimonopoly Policy and Entrepreneurship Support were approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 793 dated July 12, 1999. In May 1999, Ilya Yuzhanov became a minister.

On March 9, 2004, the Ministry was abolished, and its powers were transferred to other departments. The functions of the federal antimonopoly body, control over the activities of natural monopolies and over compliance with advertising legislation, which belonged to the MAP of Russia, were transferred to the newly formed Federal Antimonopoly Service. Igor Artemyev has been appointed head of the service.

Functions

The main functions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service are:

• control over compliance with antimonopoly legislation, including in the field of electric power industry, use of land, subsoil, water and other natural resources;
• supervision and control over compliance with the legislation on natural monopolies;
• supervision and control over compliance with advertising legislation;
• control in the field of placing orders for the supply of goods, performance of work, provision of services for federal state needs (with the exception of the authority to control in the field of placing orders for the supply of goods, performance of work, provision of services under the state defense order, as well as in the field of placing orders for supplies goods, performance of work, provision of services for federal state needs not related to the state defense order, information about which constitutes a state secret);
• control in the field of placing orders for the supply of goods, performance of work, provision of services for the needs of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and municipal needs in the cases and in the manner established by the legislation of the Russian Federation on the placement of orders;
• control over the implementation of foreign investments in business entities of strategic importance for ensuring the defense of the country and the security of the state.

The key legislative acts by which the FAS Russia is guided in its work are the Federal Laws “On Protection of Competition”, “On Placement of Orders for the Supply of Goods, Performance of Works, Rendering of Services for State and Municipal Needs”, “On the Procedure for Making Foreign Investments in Business Companies which are of strategic importance for ensuring the defense of the country and the security of the state”, “On Advertising”. Since February 1, 2010, the FAS Russia has been monitoring compliance with the antimonopoly requirements established by the Federal Law "On the Fundamentals of State Regulation of Trading Activities in the Russian Federation" . The FAS Russia is subordinate to the Government of the Russian Federation (reports directly to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation). The Service submits to the Government of the Russian Federation an annual report on the results of its activities.

Management

• Head - Igor Artemiev.
• Secretary of State - Deputy Head - Andrei Tsarikovskiy (supervises control over the placement of state orders, the fight against cartels, control in the market for housing and communal services, construction and natural resources).
• Deputy Head - Anatoly Golomolzin (supervises areas of activity: control in the fuel and energy markets, in the field of electricity, information technology, transport and communications).
• Deputy Head - Andrey Kashevarov (supervises the control of the social sphere and trade, financial markets and advertising).
• Deputy Head - Pavel Subbotin (oversees the control of authorities, personnel work, issues of civil service in the FAS Russia and coordinates the activities of the territorial departments of the FAS Russia).
• Deputy Head - Andrey Tsyganov (supervises the control of industry, the agro-industrial complex, as well as foreign investment in strategic business companies).

Structure

The structure of the FAS Russia includes the central office of the service, consisting of sectoral departments, and territorial bodies. Currently, the number of territorial bodies of the FAS Russia in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation is 82.

Powers and order of consideration of cases

In accordance with the Regulations on the FAS Russia, the service is endowed with the following main powers:

• adoption of regulations on issues within the competence of the service (only the central office);
• exercising control over compliance by commercial and non-profit organizations, individuals (including individual entrepreneurs), federal executive authorities, state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and local governments with legislation in the established area, including consideration of cases of violations of the law, issuance of mandatory for the execution of orders, carrying out scheduled and unscheduled inspections, bringing those guilty of violating the law to administrative responsibility;
• exercising control over economic concentration in commodity markets, coordinating transactions with shares (stakes) and property of commercial organizations in cases provided for by antimonopoly legislation;
• conducting a study of commodity markets and establishing the presence of a dominant position on them by individual economic entities;
• maintaining a register of unscrupulous suppliers, which includes information about suppliers (contractors) who evaded the conclusion of state or municipal contracts based on the results of tenders, as well as suppliers (contractors) whose contracts were terminated in court due to non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of their obligations ;
• consideration of petitions of foreign investors on the approval of transactions with business entities of strategic importance for ensuring the country's defense and state security, or on the approval of establishing control over such companies.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia and its territorial bodies initiate cases of violations of the law in the area of ​​their competence on the basis of applications from individuals and legal entities, materials from law enforcement agencies, as well as on their own initiative based on the results of inspections carried out by the service. Cases are considered by a commission created for these purposes, consisting of employees of the antimonopoly authority in the amount of at least three people. The chairman of the commission is the head of the antimonopoly authority or his deputy. When considering cases in relation to credit institutions, half of the members of the commission must be representatives of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Cases are considered by a commission with the participation of the parties (applicant and defendant), who state their position and provide evidence in support of it, after which the commission, in the absence of the parties, makes a decision on the case by a majority vote of the commission members by open voting. If it is necessary to obtain additional evidence, to involve interested persons in the case, the consideration of the case may be postponed, and if it is necessary to conduct expert examinations, it may be suspended. Based on the results of the consideration of the case, the proceedings on the case may be terminated due to the absence of violations of the law in the actions considered by the commission, or the defendant is found to have violated the relevant norms of the law - in this case, he is issued an order to stop the violation. The decision and order of the antimonopoly authority may be appealed in court.

Main activities

Based on the Report on the results and main activities of the FAS Russia for 2008-2010, submitted by the FAS Russia to the Government of the Russian Federation, the strategic task of the FAS Russia is to ensure freedom of competition and limit monopolistic activities within the single economic space of the Russian Federation. Based on this task, the FAS Russia has defined 3 main goals of its activities:

1. Creation of conditions for the development of competition in the areas of activity of economic entities that are not related to natural monopolies.
2. Prevention and suppression of anti-competitive interference of state authorities and local self-government in the functioning of markets, reduction of corruption risks when placing state and municipal orders.
3. Ensuring equal access of consumers to goods, works, services sold by subjects of natural monopolies, and development of competition in potentially competitive activities of subjects of natural monopolies.

The activity of the FAS Russia in the framework of achieving the first of these goals is aimed at suppressing the anti-competitive behavior of individual economic entities in the commodity and financial markets, including reducing the level of unfair competition, preventing and suppressing abuses of a dominant position, agreements and concerted actions that restrict competition (the so-called "cartel collusion"), improving the quality of ongoing research on the state of the competitive environment in commodity markets. The Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia also attaches great importance to the direction of control over authorities at all levels in order to prevent the creation of administrative barriers to entrepreneurial activities. Within the framework of the control of the authorities, there are three main areas: control of the procedures for placing state and municipal orders; control over the provision of state and municipal preferences to individual market participants; suppression of agreements restricting competition and concerted actions of state authorities and local self-government with individual economic entities.

Advisory bodies under the FAS Russia

The FAS Russia has a Public Advisory Council, which includes representatives of non-profit organizations, associations of entrepreneurs. The Council monitors the activities of the FAS Russia, develops recommendations for improving antimonopoly legislation and the practice of suppressing its violations. Similar councils operate in the territorial departments of the FAS Russia. The FAS Russia also has expert councils in certain areas of the service’s activities, in particular, the Expert Council on Advertising, the Expert Council on Unfair Competition, the Expert Council on the Protection of Competition in the Financial Services Market, the Expert Council on the Electric Power Industry, the Expert Council on Communications, the Expert Council for the agro-industrial complex, the Expert Council for the Development of Competition in the Housing and Utilities Sector, the Expert Council for the Support of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses. The Expert Councils include market participants, representatives of non-profit organizations and regulatory authorities.

Notes

Links

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Under the jurisdiction of the President of the Russian Federation
ministries services and agencies
federal services
federal agencies
Administered by the Government of the Russian Federation
ministries services and agencies
federal services
federal agencies

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

(eng. FAS, free sheep alongside - free along the ship) front

one of the basic conditions that determine the procedure for the delivery and payment of goods in international trade. Under this condition, the seller is obliged to deliver the goods to the ship, and the recipient bears the costs of loading the goods onto the ship.

Glossary of financial terms

FAS

commercial conditions that determine the procedure for the delivery and payment of goods in international trade. The term is formed from the initial letters of the English words "Free Along Ship" (free along the ship). The purchase and sale of goods on the terms of the FAS means the obligation of the seller to deliver the goods to the ship's board at the expense of his own forces and means. The buyer is obliged to timely charter the vessel, he bears all the costs of loading the goods on board. The risk of accidental loss or damage passes from the seller to the buyer at the time of the actual delivery of the goods alongside the vessel. When goods are delivered on FAS terms, the selling price includes the price of the goods itself, as well as transportation and other costs.

Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language, Vladimir Dal

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. D.N. Ushakov

face

face, m. (French face - face).

The front side of something. (book). The front of our corps ... overlooked the Neva. Leskov.

A straight section of a fortress fence or field fortification with a certain direction of fire (military).

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova.

face

A, m. (special) Front view, from linden, full face. Take a photo in f.iv profile. Turn face.

adj. face, th, th.

New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

face

FAS (from the French face - face) in fortification - a straight section of a trench, communication, non-explosive anti-tank and anti-personnel barriers.

face

FAS (English fas, abbr. from free alongside ship - freely along the side of the vessel) is a type of foreign trade contract of sale associated with the delivery of goods by water, when the price of the goods includes the cost of delivering it to the ship.

Big Law Dictionary

face

international trade term, one of the free delivery terms in commercial transactions (remained unchanged in the 1990 edition of Incoterms). Literally means "free along the side of the ship". According to this condition, the seller is deemed to have fulfilled his obligations when the goods are placed along the side of the ship on the berth or on lighters. From this point on, all costs and risks of loss of or damage to the goods must be borne by the buyer. As with the ex-factory condition, the buyer clears the goods from export duties and customs formalities - in contrast to the FOB condition, where this operation is entrusted to the seller. The FAS condition is applicable only for transportation by sea or river transport.

Fas (face)

face- the side of something facing the viewer (see full face). In military affairs: the front is the side of the fortification facing the enemy.

Faces are also called straight sections of wire obstacles, trenches and anti-tank ditches.

Fas (disambiguation)

• face- front side.
• face- dog training team.

FAS

FAS (football club)

"FAS"- Salvadoran football club from the city of Santa Ana. Plays in the El Salvador Premiere, the strongest division in El Salvador. The club was founded on February 16, 1947, and plays home matches at the Estadio Oscar Cuiteno, which can accommodate 15,000 spectators. " FAS» The most titled club in El Salvador, and one of the most titled clubs in CONCACAF.

Examples of the use of the word face in the literature.

With such large forces in front of the southern face Barvenkovsky bridgehead, the Nazi command intended them to deliver two strikes - on Barvenkovo ​​and in the direction of Dolgenkaya, where the auxiliary command post of the 9th Army was located.

Most importantly, Bayazet was taken, the Russian flag fluttered over faces ancient fortress.

The height and width of the nose, the length of the back of the nose, the depth of the bridge of the nose, the protrusion of the nose, the contour of the back in profile, the width and shape of the back in face, the position of the base of the nose in profile, the position and shape of the tip of the nose, and the shape of the alae.

Let's try to develop a mysterious phenomenon - domestication, but not in face, but in profile.

Approaching the police station house, which overlooked face out into the street, Turkevich winked merrily at his companions, threw up his cap and announced loudly that it was not the chief who lived here, but his own, Turkevich's father and benefactor.

Push the cigarat to the brim, to the very mouth, opari behold face and send two terns to kill.

From high face the redifs, trained by British instructors, could be seen digging trenches: the earth flew up from their shovels high above the parapet, and the rifle fire threatened to become especially dense and dangerous.

First of all, it represents the reverse side of the large canvas depicted on the left, rather, not even the reverse side, but the front side, since it shows in face what is hidden by the position of this canvas.

This was the southern face Kursk ledge, where the defense was headed by the field administration of the Voronezh Front.

Meanwhile, during November 12 and 13, the front commander, in accordance with the instructions of the Headquarters, assigned the troops the task of defending the southern face bridgehead on the front of Zhytomyr, Fastov, Tripoli.

She occupied part of the western face Kursk ledge - to the junction with the troops of the Central Front.

By this time we had moved our headquarters to the northern outskirts of Oboyan, deep into the southern face arcs.

On the evening of the same day he left for Peterhof, in order to congratulate those lined up at three face midshipmen with the production of midshipmen.

This is confirmed by the fact that in the southern facet On the first day of the Kursk Bulge, the enemy struck with the forces of five corps, and on the northern one - three.

Suddenly the girl turned her head to the window, and Sergei simultaneously saw her profile and face already from the depths of the dark running pool of wagon glass, and her face now looked at Sergei from there attentively and sadly.

Since the second half of last year, when world oil prices have steadily crept down and retail gasoline prices in most countries have moved in the same direction, all of Russia has been perplexed: why are our prices not falling? It got to the point that the prime minister could not stand it anymore: where is the FAS? Why is he sleeping?

The Federal Antimonopoly Service, of course, did not sleep - for several years now it has been fighting oil monopolists, who unreasonably raise fuel prices. But this struggle remained unnoticed by the general public. And after the prices at gas stations began to really fall, the abbreviation FAS began to flicker more and more often in the popular vocabulary.

What do people know about the service

And yet, not much is known about FAS yet. Three organizations - the Institute of the National Project "Social Contract", the Society for the Development of Entrepreneurial Initiatives and the Center for Civic Analysis and Independent Research - conducted a study on the observance of public interests in the activities of the antimonopoly authorities in 2008.

All respondents were divided into three approximately equal groups. The first group assessed the effectiveness of the work of the FAS bodies as high and medium, the second - as low, and the third group could not evaluate it at all. Moreover, a quarter of the respondents do not know at all what the territorial bodies of the FAS are doing, and in some regions the proportion of those who did not know reached 60 percent.

Simply put

For the first time in Russia, the antimonopoly body appeared in 1990. At first it was called the State Committee of the RSFSR for Antimonopoly Policy and Support for New Economic Structures. Then it was transformed into the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Antimonopoly Policy and Entrepreneurship Support (MAP of Russia). In March 2004, the ministry was abolished and the Federal Antimonopoly Service was formed.

Its tasks are the development of regulatory documents, as well as control and supervision over compliance with competition in the commodity markets, in the financial services market, control over the activities of natural monopolies and compliance with advertising legislation. In addition, the Federal Antimonopoly Service was instructed to monitor the correct placement of orders for the supply of goods, the performance of work, and the provision of services for state and municipal needs.

In simple terms, the antimonopoly authorities exist to ensure that enterprises compete fairly with each other, so that they do not set unreasonably high (or, conversely, low) prices for their products or services, so that business sharks cannot swallow "trifle" for a great life so that they do not enter into a criminal conspiracy with each other and with representatives of the authorities, and that the same authorities cannot dictate their own selfish conditions to business.

Opportunities in order to identify certain violations of competition rules, the bodies of the Federal Antimonopoly Service now abound. Back in the early 2000s, it took antimonopoly officials two or three years to prove price fixing in court, and as a result, companies got off with a small fine. Now the process has accelerated several times, and the punishment for the same price collusion is up to 15 percent of the company's annual turnover. In some cases, even imprisonment is provided.

By the way, oddly enough, but it is officials today who are the main violators of competition law - they account for more than half of all detected violations. In second place in the ranking of violators are natural monopolies. However, ordinary citizens are more likely to encounter other monopolies, so to speak, of a local spill - in shops, markets, gas stations, etc. within, for example, one regional center. And here the antimonopoly legislation and the possibilities of the FAS are already more modest. But the service promises that even such monopolists will get their hands on it. The first in line are retail chains.

The consumer always wins

After, together with the liquidation of the Ministry of Antimonopoly Policy, the obligation to protect consumer rights was removed from the functions of the antimonopoly agency, it would seem that ordinary citizens should lose any interest in the activities of the department. Monopolists, cartels, conspiracies - this is somewhere very far from the common man. What is the benefit to me, Ivan Petrovich Sidorov, from the fact that the FAS fined an oil tycoon billions of rubles for unreasonably raising gasoline prices?

Actually there is a benefit. And the most direct. To collect a fine for boorish behavior of a business is only part of the work of the FAS. The main thing in such a situation is to force the business to set fair prices. Last summer and autumn, a decrease in retail prices for motor fuel was observed almost throughout the country. And this is the merit of the FAS.

Credits. Almost all citizens who in recent years had to take loans from banks faced the fact that after signing the contract they found out that they would have to pay on the loan much more than they expected. The initial information about the terms of the loan and the contracts were drawn up in such a way that a person without special education could not understand what it would turn out for him. Therefore, the FAS, together with the Central Bank, developed rules for disclosing information for borrowers. As a result, many banks not only began to tell the truth, but even reduced some of the costs of servicing loans to consumers.

Another example. New laws and control over the placement of state and municipal orders made it possible last year to save 260 billion budget rubles. In practice, this means, for example, that the cost of medicines for privileged categories of citizens is reduced, for some items - by two to three times. Thus, the state gets the opportunity to either buy more medicines or use the saved money for other social needs.

Federal Antimonopoly Service

Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya, 11, Moscow,

D-242, GSP-5, 123995.

Phone: +74997957653

Direct speech

FAS head Igor Artemyev on monopoly, corruption and his own agency

"Corruption potential in the antimonopoly service is high, and with the adoption of the new law it will become even higher. Accordingly, preventive measures must be taken now" (July 2006).

“Every year we uncover more than 200 cartels. But I call it bunny catching at the regional level. The big fish are getting away with it so far. In the time that I have been working, only one major conspiracy has been proven” (October 2008).

"I believe that the Federal Antimonopoly Service has not yet become a macro-regulator in the Russian economy ... Either we will really become such a body that will be reckoned with, or we will all be rightly fired and other specialists will work in our place who will try to do this" ( October 2008).

"Our health care is in such a situation that it is one of our top priorities in 2009. Trade networks continue to discriminate against manufacturers, farmers. Education is dominated by monopolism, monstrous bribes, huge tuition costs" (February 2009).