ArmInfo.The factor of subjectivity will be excluded in the work of the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition.
The RA National Assembly, at its sitting on January 20, in the first reading, introduced amendments to the Law "On Protection of Economic Competition". According to Gegham Gevorkyan, Chairman of the State Committee for the Protection of Environmental Protection, the current law was adopted 20 years ago, and needs to be radically modernized, taking into account today's realities. One of the important innovations will be the introduction of a maximum scale of fines that cannot exceed the amount of profit of business entities. But at the same time, Gevorkyan continued, certain specifics are being introduced into the document. So, for example, at present there is a mechanism for appealing the decisions taken by the commission in the courts. These cases can be considered for a number of years, which allows the subjects for a long time not to pay the fines established by the SCPEC. Now it is proposed to establish a provision according to which, if the subject agrees with the arguments of the commission and his desire to work with it, the amount of the fine cannot be higher than 50% of the company's income, otherwise the amount of the fine will be 70%. The head of the commission stressed that the purpose of the law is to protect and promote freedom of economic activity, free economic competition, create the necessary conditions for fair competition, promote business development and protect consumer interests. The document applies to actions, behavior or actions of business entities, government agencies, as well as government officials that lead or may lead to restriction, prevention, prohibition or unfair competition, as well as damage the interests of consumers. They also apply to the behavior of economic entities in foreign countries, which may restrict, prevent or prohibit economic competition or damage the interests of consumers in the Republic of Armenia. The law does not apply to relations regulated by the general rules of competition in cross-border markets, control over which is attributed to the competence of the Eurasian Economic Commission in accordance with an international treaty of the Republic of Armenia. The Commission performs functions in relation to persons regulated or controlled by the Central Bank on the basis of interaction with the Central Bank. This law does not apply to relations in the field of public services, the regulation of which is within the competence of the Public Services Regulatory Commission.