On February 17, 2022, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia signed a memorandum with the largest Russian IT companies that establishes the principles of interaction between participants in digital markets and is aimed at creating non-discriminatory conditions for all users in the field of information technology.
The document was signed by the head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Maxim Shaskolsky and representatives of 1C, Avito, Aliexpress, Wildberries, VK, Lamoda, Ozon, Russoft, Sberbank, Cyan, Yandex and the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT ).
The memorandum contains the basic principles of fair behavior in digital markets in the framework of the development of competition and compliance with legislation in the field of information technology, including:
reasonable openness of digital platforms and ensuring free access to information about how search results are ranked;
neutral attitude towards various parties of the market, including competitors;
ensuring the independence of platform users when interacting with it;
avoidance of expansive and ambiguous language in the rules of digital platforms, including the rejection of opaque rules in the user agreements of services that allow blocking and deleting accounts without warning;
ensuring the rights of platform users, including by considering their requests and providing them with full answers.
The full text of the principles of interaction between participants in digital markets is posted on the FAS website.
“Compliance with the predictable behavior of digital platforms creates conditions for the development of both digital markets and competition in them, allows you to eliminate excessive control and regulatory impact, replacing it all with self-regulation,” the head of the FAS explained at the signing of the memorandum.
The Memorandum is a tool for self-regulation of digital markets. It is assumed that the companies that signed it will voluntarily comply with the principles, a number of which are directly related to the latest claims and antimonopoly cases of the FAS against the work of some IT companies (Booking.com - a fine of 1.3 billion rubles, Yandex - a settlement agreement in the case of "sorcerers"). Other IT companies may join the memorandum if they wish.
In August 2021, the FAS, together with market participants, developed and began joint discussions on the basic principles of fair behavior in digital markets.
bbabo.Net