"Gray costumes, black boots"

Former head of the Cartelian Cart -Cart -Cart -Cart -Cart -Cart -Card - About what is being done and what is not done by the Government and what will be redistributing property and markets

The most dashing price increase is, of course, large national networks selling electronics. Example: in the evening I ordered an external hard drive for 3999 rubles, in the morning its price increased to 7199. So far, I thought whether to pay or not, and this offer was being reset. They sent a new one - for 10 thousand. I decided to act faster, and paid the next order right away. A few days later, instead of its issuance, they report: there is no product, consider other offers-so far there is at least something.

Products are not more expensive yet, but many positions are already washed out in the same way. In response, the authorities in the regions create headquarters for curbing prices. Rhetoric is heard well -known: about the inadmissibility of speculation. Entrepreneurs warn that it will have to be in detail to prove each rewritten price tag, they introduce appropriate reporting: Foreigned to justify the price increase. Ideas are considered to untie the food prices from exchange prices, to introduce barriers to food export, etc. Our interlocutor is Andrey Tenishev, head of the Department of Competitive Law of the RANEPA. Until May 2021 - Head of the Office for Cartmakes FAS Russia.

Andrey Tenishev

Former head of the Cartelian Cartelian Department of the FAS Russia, Head of the Department of Competitive Law of the RANEPA

- Yes, this is already done in many regions. If you rise above the form of justification of price raising, what will we see? There is some confusion, and two extreme points of view prevail. First: to allow everything, and the market itself will take out. So you can do it. But what will we get? Uncontrolled and rapid increase in prices, hyperinflation and a bunch of social problems.

-The beginning of the 90s.

- Yes. The second extreme point of view: to introduce state regulation on everything and everything. And so you can. We will solve social problems and prices may remain.

-80s, the first half.

- Well, approximately. Planned economy, deficit. And the quality of the products is appropriate. After all, what will the business tell us? Guys, I am not ready to produce and supply for five rubles. Or he will not refuse - okay, God with him, I will do it, but so that it will cost the same five rubles. We will have gray costumes, black boots and sausage with toilet paper. She, however, is with her.

“But now it will be used.”

- Yes. These are all simple solutions. Why are they talking about them? Because you can do this and that. Letting go of everything, and the market will take out - it's simple. Or we will introduce a 5 percent trading allowance everywhere-this is also simple, wrote the law and sit: you took care of the people.

- Any difficult problem always has a simple and easy to understand the wrong solution. There are even two of them.

- Yes, and the main task is to go between Scylla and Haribda, in the middle between that point of view and this one, and for this you need a whole range of measures. We need a new antimonopoly policy, a new economic policy. All commodity markets are arranged in different ways. Somewhere, you really need to introduce state regulation, especially when it comes to people's lives and their health. Somewhere it is enough to make reasonable tariff decisions.

Well, for example, the transportation of fish from the Far East or agricultural products from Siberia to the main consumer, to the central strip of Russia, is a long history. He talked about this a hundred times: the Altai edge produces grain, including ill -fated buckwheat, much more than what he can consume, so give preferential transportation tariffs so that its products are competitive with the products of the southern regions (Krasnodar, Voronezh, Rostov). Everything is a decision. Well, maybe some other barriers, so as not to be taken to Kazakhstan and China. May be. But barriers without tariffs?! Well, last year they were introduced. And it turned out that Altai peasants cannot sell abroad, and they cannot take away the central part of Russia. And what, what problem did you solve? No.

And this is the simplest thing that is. And there are much more complicated markets, for example, the electricity market.

And then. The sanctions hit the markets in different ways. Somewhere we have good, or even unique opportunities for our business to occupy the liberated niches. For example, a baby food market. We have our own production, some hundred points will give forward imports. And where we cannot replace, we must unfold to the east, go to China, Indonesia, Malaysia and establish cooperation. But again, one must understand that friendship with China is a mutual thing, as if not to turn into a colonial appendage of a large developing economy.

And as for friendship with Southeast Asia: all this is good, but how will we carry? He also talked about it a hundred times. Back in 2015, we proposed: let's create a national container carrier. All that is from Juva is bored through the ocean. We do not have such ships. Now Maersk and almost all other companies said : but we will not carry it. For us, only Chinese Cosco is caring for us. And so: the countries of Juva did not impose sanctions, and we could buy their goods, but the whole question is how to bring them. To carry where and what is possible, the railway? But there will be a choice - coal or goods.

Cosco navigable company is, by the way, an example of how China relates to solving problems. In the same 2015, China was concerned about the same problem-that they have a small private company in this market, and it will not literally take out everything. And while we were engaged in correspondence, they pumped this company state departments, and it became the fourth in the world. This is in 2020, now, maybe above it has risen.

- But these are long -term measures. And how do you like what the government and the FAS are doing now?

- I looked today by Shaskolsky ( March 10, the State Duma listened to emergency measures to limit the price of prices, the head of the FAS Shaskolsky. - A. T. ) - no revelations happened. The service does not have a whole program to combat monopoly. The last year of work in the FAS team of Artemyev ( the former head of the FAS.-A. T. ), the 2020th, was heavy, pandemic, but his service passed. Calm 2021 - the Lokdauns ceased, the economic ties destroyed by Pandemia recovered - the new team failed. Against the backdrop of her inaction - rampant increase in food prices, metal, building materials, container transportation. What this team can do now, in the crisis of 2022, is even difficult to imagine. The deputies are trying to forcibly arm the Shaskolsky, hold out his gun - take it, here you have the authority. Well, even if it takes. Who will shoot something? He does not know how.

Change of team plus a complete disarmament . To refuse to tighten responsibility for cartels and powers to identify them, which the president proposed, is just a betrayal today.

- ???

- The FAS introduced the amendments to the “anticarting” package of bills to the Duma: in fact, the service refuses almost all additional powers to identify and suppress cartel agreements. And the plans of the service are their complete decriminalization.

In fact, the initiator of these bills was the president. And he offered the opposite, and this is precisely about the protection of consumers in the broad sense of the word - be it business or citizens; On protection against price conspiracies and prices. The president, when again - in 2017 - offered to tighten the punishment for the cartels so that it was the third most rigid after the Stateismman and the murder.

But the Federal Antimonopoly Service reduces anti -core activity, the number of initiated cases of anti -competitive agreements almost doubled, the level of cartelization of our economy has increased, and prices are flying.

- What else went, in your opinion, not so or not there?

- In addition to the powers of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, in the fight against cartels, it is necessary to develop exchange trading, take at least 20% of oil products for auction , as well as forest, metal, building materials and agricultural products. It is necessary to change the procedure for registering drugs and medical equipment, since the acting makes our medical industry uncompetitive.

The state is obliged not only to protect, but also to develop competition. The business has a request to the government to introduce norms on the development of competition.

- The administrative burden on business will decrease if there is a decision to introduce the NEP?

- Hundreds of barriers are already eliminated, but new ones arise in their place. Only in the Code of Administrative Offenses - many completely arbitrary prohibitions and more than 70 federal regulatory authorities. There are still local ones. And the level of criminal prosecution of business? About 40,000 cases of economic crimes are excited annually. 15%reach the sentence, the rest are investigated for years. 85% of entrepreneurs as a result of the persecution have completely or partially lost business. The amount of income in which the economic act becomes criminal is negligible - 2.25 million rubles.

- Is there a contradiction that you are talking about the need to expand the powers of the FAS and at the same time about the introduction of NEP elements?

-The FAS does not have time to react to a changing situation-prices have risen since the beginning of 2021, and the first results of investigations were obtained only in 2022. The service must just change. We need a new antimonopoly process, abbreviated forms of antimonopoly investigations that will quickly respond to the situation.

It is necessary to get rid of excessive prohibitions - such as abuse of a collective dominant position and illegal agreed actions. These are rudiments, and they cost a business of tens of billions of rubles of fines only for the fact that prices were as high as that of competitors.

It is necessary to use warning measures wider - this will not assign to companies working fines, and the consumer will receive fair market prices in a timely manner.

In general, it seems to me that the FAS should be directly subordinated to the president. Now the service should not only provide protection of competition, but also become a megaregulator, solving the issues of ensuring economic security. This is the super -task. But who to solve this on the shoulder?

And from the fact that the government specifically does now, I can’t say about any measure that it is bad or it is in vain. But all these measures have a characteristic: they are momentary.

In this mode, of course, we must also work, to extinguish all these foci. And here are those headquarters in the regions where we started, what the governors do is the same story.

Makhonin ( Governor of the Perm Territory. - A. T. ) Well done: he announced three weekends to workers for his government, demanding a program for the rescue of the economy of the region by March 9. Not situational measures, but a program. I don’t know how they worked in these three days, but the approach is noteworthy. This is not a shopping raid. And many so far are reacting - we will see how prices, OFAS, the prosecutor’s office will attract, the entrepreneurs are overwhelmed, and the people are there to calm. This, of course, is also a measure, it must also be done, but this is clearly not enough.

-Another memory of the beginning of the 90s in this regard: a new redistribution of property will start-only now under the full control of local officials? Well, since they begin to regulate prices.

- He will be discussed what to do with foreign shares. Nationalize or take in management: return - give. There are now two such scenarios. Which is prevailing, I don't know. The redistribution will be, but in what form - stiff or soft? However, the redistribution of the ownership, but the markets will be much larger. And this will happen quite objectively: the market niches are released, but the demand remained. The proposal, then, will be. The only question is who will take these niches - our companies or eastern ones.

And what to say? If we roll to the Soviet distribution economy, then yes, of course, officials will be able to influence all this, to whom it will be departed, and if we adhere to another course - complex, but suspended decisions - the threat of bureaucratic redistribution is leveled. She is always there. But we have not yet given them card blanche set prices and allowances. Although they talk a lot about it, yes. This is a question today - where will we go.

And another factor here. The sanctions hit the companies differently. Compare Sberes, almost not injured, and VTB. And you can also look at the average banks, where in the early days we switched to a round -the -clock mode of operation, they put the cot in the offices. Sber will still increase the market share. The same story with airlines. Who will be easier to transfer - Aeroflot, which uses state support, or S7?

With simple solutions - a five percent allowance we will not solve anything, these are complex processes.