Anti-Trust Ministry should focus on big deals

The Russian Anti-Trust Ministry should focus on major deals, Deputy Minister Sergei Dudkin said on Monday. He commented on the amendments made to the cabinet on Friday to the law On Competition, particularly the increase of threshold values for companies 100-fold.

"If the threshold values increase, as we plan, from 200,000 to 20 million roubles (1 US dollar equals approximately 30,35 roubles), the list of deals to be co-ordinated with our ministry will be cut. We think it a very positive and certainly well-calculated step from the economic viewpoint", Dudkin said.

Alongside the increase in threshold values, the cancelling of the relative register was also submitted for cabinet approval on Friday, he said.

"We actually reject the introduction of the register for economic entities which dominate the market. This function proves to be wholly unjustified also from the points of view of means and resources spent, as well as trustworthiness," said the deputy minister for anti-trust policy.