On 6 May, Minister of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic, Oleg Pankratov, met with representatives of business associations.

The IBC representative took part in the discussion of the draft law providing for amendments to the Code of Violations, the laws of the Kyrgyz Republic “On Competition”, “On Natural Monopolies in the Kyrgyz Republic”, “On the Procedure for Conducting Inspections of Entrepreneurship,” and “On Operational Investigation Activities”.

The objectives of the bill are:

- Elimination of contradictions with Article 75 of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The Code of Violations does not contain measures of responsibility for violations of antitrust laws;

- Ensuring the effective execution of the requirements of antimonopoly legislation by empowering the antimonopoly authority with the authority to conduct an audit without notice (sudden verification) in order to identify anti-competitive agreements (cartels) and concerted actions.

During the discussions, the view was expressed that empowering the antimonopoly body with the right to conduct an audit without notice would be contrary to the government's policy to reduce interference in business and attract investment.

The meeting participants decided to promote only the norms of the draft law aimed at eliminating contradictions with the EAEU Treaty.