The Group will be headed by Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Maxim Oreshkin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has formed an interdepartmental working group for the development of digital ecosystems and digital platforms. A corresponding decree has been published.
The President also approved the composition of the new structure, which will be headed by Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Maxim Oreshkin. The working group includes the chairman of the Bank of Russia, director of the FSB, the mayor of Moscow, ministers, as well as heads of departments and federal services.
This working group will be a coordinating body for the implementation of government policy in this area, including the development of regulatory tools for digital platforms and ecosystems. The document describes them as “new forms of organization of economic relations”, which are characterized by a high speed of information exchange, a significant increase in the share of trade using the Internet, as well as the development and introduction of new technologies and innovations of sectoral importance.
The group also includes the head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia, which implies direct interaction with the antimonopoly authority, and the goal stated in the order - “support and development of competition between ecosystems” - is directly related to the competencies of the agency, notes Mikhail Shikhmuradov, an expert of the BRICS Competition Centre.
“It can be expected that the group will also develop recommendations on antitrust regulation of digital platforms. For example, these could be proposals on preventing abuse of dominant position, ensuring equal access to ecosystem infrastructure or controlling mergers and acquisitions,”
says the expert.
The main task of the working group will also be to develop measures, approaches and proposals that will contribute to the development of digital economy ecosystems and organizations working in this area, as well as make the ecosystems themselves safe, stable and accessible.
BRICS experience, in particular in regulating cross-border digital markets, can be particularly valuable in matters of cooperation between antimonopoly authorities, developing common approaches to assessing competition risks and developing effective regulatory tools, Shikhmuradov emphasizes. In the long term, this will contribute to the formation of “a more predictable and harmonized competitive environment in the digital economy of the BRICS countries,” he adds.
