What Developments Can We Expect In The Area Of Antimonopoly Law In The Near Future?

One of the steps announced in 'The Nation's Plan - 100 specific steps to implement five institutional reforms' is to change the concept of operation of the antimonopoly service, bringing it into conformity with the standards of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Under Step 53 of the Nations Plan, the modified antimonopoly service should focus on the promotion of free competition. A 2-stage approach has been developed to change the concept of operation of the antimonopoly body and antimonopoly legislation, bringing them into conformity with the OECD's standards.

Stage 1

According to the report of the Chairman of the RK Committee for Regulation of Natural Monopolies and Protection of Competition made at the 43rd Meeting of the Interstate Council for Antimonopoly Policy, held as part of the international event 'Competition Week in Russia' (21-24 September 2015), proposals to amend the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the draft Entrepreneurial Code was intended to be developed at stage one.

The Entrepreneurial Code and proposals for amendments to the accompanying RK Law On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan Regarding Entrepreneurship were adopted by the Senate of the RK Parliament on 8 October 2015.

We would like to draw your attention to the following fundamental amendments:

As from 1 January 2016, the Register of Dominants will only be kept in respect of regulated market entities. Small businesses will most likely be excluded from the above Register. At the same time, it is expected that the Register will be fully withdrawn; The prohibitions regarding anticompetitive agreements extend to verbal agreements. The previous version of the Competition Law was equivocal; The dominant position of a market participant will now be established if set thresholds are exceeded, concurrently having regard to any circumstances that would evidence the dominant influence on the market; A conciliation commission is being instituted within the antimonopoly body to deal with cases of violations in the sphere...