IN KAZAKHSTAN, THE METHODOLOGY FOR ANALYZING THE STATE OF COMPETITION IN COMMODITY MARKETS HAS BEEN REVISED

IN KAZAKHSTAN, THE METHODOLOGY FOR ANALYZING THE STATE OF COMPETITION IN COMMODITY MARKETS HAS BEEN REVISED

The Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter – APDC) has improved the Methodology for analyzing the state of competition in commodity markets (hereinafter – the Methodology).

New changes in the Methodology are designed to optimize the process of determining the level of competition, identifying market entities occupying a dominant or monopolistic position, and developing a set of measures aimed at protecting and developing competition.

Thus, one of the main innovations of the updated version of the Methodology is the division of the analysis of the commodity market into planned and unplanned.

1. The planned analysis will be used as a tool for the institutional development of competition. This mechanism will focus on identifying systemic problems in the functioning of commodity markets, including those related to legislative restrictions and administrative barriers to competition.

During the planned analysis, an assessment will be carried out:

- the frequency of new sellers appearing on the commodity market;

- openness to interregional and international trade;

- the level of technical development of market entities;

- the ratio of profit and capital raising costs for market entities with a share of more than 35 percent.

- innovative activity and marketing strategy of sellers;

- the degree of interdependence of competing market entities.

At the same time, the composition of potential sellers will be determined by the method of a survey and expert assessments. The surmountability of barriers to entry into the commodity market will be assessed by the frequency of appearance of new entities in the commodity market.

The duration of the planned analysis has been reduced from 12 to 6 months.

2. Unscheduled analysis will be used as a tool for regulating competition and rapid response.

That is, it is focused on identifying the dominant or monopolistic position of a market entity when considering signs of violations, regulating economic concentration and assessing the expediency of state participation in entrepreneurship.

When conducting an unscheduled analysis, they are simplified:

- procedures for conducting the hypothetical monopolist test;

- determination of criteria for the interchangeability of goods, geographical boundaries and time interval of the study of the commodity market.

- the sources of information collection for unscheduled analysis have been specified.

In order to optimize the analysis period, it is possible to use the results of previous analyses over the past three years in terms of criteria for the interchangeability of goods and the boundaries of the commodity market.

The timing of the analysis has been reduced from 12 months to 3 months, depending on the concentration of the commodity market.

The conclusions of the results will be published on the APDC Internet resource, with the exception of information containing state secrets and other legally protected secrets.

New approaches to analyzing the state of competition will make it possible to more effectively identify monopoly positions and protect business interests.

More information about the Methodology can be found at the link: https://zan.gov.kz/client /#!/doc/184403/rus 

Note: the list of planned analyses of commodity markets will be approved annually by the Agency and posted on the official Internet resource until January 10 following the reporting period.