On October 25^th a joint research seminar organized by the HSE Institute for Institutional Studies and the Institute for Industrial and Market Studies  took place at the HSE. A report on ‘Abuse of Collective Dominance under the Competition Law of the Russian Federation’ was unveiled at the seminar.

Abstract:

In 2006, Russia amended its competition law and added the concepts of “collective dominance” and its abuse.  This was seen as an attempt to address the common problem of “conscious parallelism” among firms in concentrated industries.  Critics feared that the enforcement of this provision would become tantamount to government regulation of prices.  In this paper we examine the enforcement experience to date, looking especially closely at sanctions imposed on firms in the oil industry.  Some difficulties and complications experienced in enforcement are analyzed, and some alternative strategies for addressing anticompetitive behavior in concentrated industries discussed.

Speakers:

• Svetlana Avdasheva, Doctor of Science (Econ.), Deputy Director at the Institute for Industrial and Market Studies, Professor at the HSE Department for Economic Analysis of Organizations and Markets;
• Nadezhda Goreyko, MA (Econ., Lomonosov MSU), Junior Research Fellow at the Institute for Industrial and Market Studies Laboratory of Organizational Behaviour and Development;
• Russell Pittman, Guest Professor at the New Economic School, Director for Economic Research at the U.S. Department of Justice - Economic Analysis Group.