12 March 2004 18:57
New head outlines plans for Russian antimonopoly service
Moscow, 12 March: Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Igor Artemyev plans to significantly reduce the number of
staff of the former Ministry for Antimonopoly Policy. This is what he said at a news conference today, saying that
"the staff cuts in the Russian Federation antimonopoly service [as received] is a government demand", and he
"fully agrees with it".
He said that "the former Ministry for Antimonopoly Policy had 77 territorial directorates which did the bulk of
the work". Artemyev said that he "would not like these structures to be cut in the course of government
reshuffles".
"Raising the status of the service, we would not like it to be turned into a power-wielding department," he
said. However, "antimonopoly bodies in many countries have the authority of power-wielding bodies. In Russia this
arrangement will not be effective. Far too many people with shoulder straps check on businesses and burst into company
offices, disrupting their work," Artemyev believes.
The head of the antimonopoly service also plans to "cooperate more actively with the Ministry of Economic
Development in drawing up a new law on competition". He said that "the Federal Antimonopoly Service has no
right to present draft laws to the government" and promised "to cooperate with the Ministry of Economic
Development with the aim of adopting the law on competition this year".
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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