What does the principle of ensuring competition mean? What is it for? We will try to provide answers to these and some other questions later in the article.
What is competition?
Competition refers to the processes of competition or not going beyond the scope of the law of struggle between two or more business entities. The independent actions of each of them exclude or limit the possibility of any one side to completely capture the market or some part of it. In other words, competition is a procedure to prevent monopoly.
And what do experts call a monopoly? According to the law, this is the establishment of a sole "government" in some segment of the market. Why is monopoly so harmful? In fact, this phenomenon has a lot of harmful factors:
- this is a price increase;
- the impossibility of free choice among a variety of products;
- negative impact on the state economy and much more.
The principle of ensuring competition in this case means only one thing: the prevention of monopoly in a particular economic field. It is about this process that will be described in more detail below.
The principle of ensuring competition in the procurement system
Article 8 No. 44-FZ “On the Principle of Ensuring Competition” describes a number of antitrust functions and actions. Here it is worth paying attention to the legal opportunity to become a contractor or performer to absolutely any legal entity. It is the absence of any framework or restrictions that is the basis of the presented principle. Special education, gender, worldview - all this remains unimportant. For a legal opportunity to carry out entrepreneurial activity, only one legal capacity is enough.
The article also states that the principle of fair price or non-price competition is respected. Price regulation is one of the most important conditions in this area. Thus, the regulation of the cost of a product that does not comply with the norms can be regarded as an illegal act.
In general, in Article 8 No. 44-FZ, the principle of ensuring competition means, in fact, a very simple thing: entities of the entire market-financial system are prohibited from allowing illegal actions.
About unfair competition
What is unfair competition? In this case, we can talk about any illegal functions of certain persons aimed at obtaining advantages in the implementation of business activities. Thus, no one forbids citizens to take advantage of their activities. The main thing is that all functions implemented should be consistent with the law.
So, a ban on illegal competitive actions is introduced, discreditation (dissemination of knowingly false information about the subject), misrepresentation (about the subject’s identity, prices, product, etc.), incorrect comparison, the acquisition of an exceptional opportunity for the individualization of goods, etc. are not allowed. . d.
The ban on all the presented phenomena just means the principle of ensuring competition, fair and consistent with the law.
Implementation of the principle
Can the principle of ensuring competition mean that the monopoly can be fought independently without the help of state bodies? Of course not. If a separate business entity has noticed an illegal character in the actions of another entity, then it is necessary to contact the authority for antitrust cases. It is this body that is engaged in the identification and suppression of all illegal actions in the field of market relations.
It is also worth noting that constant state control is provided in Russia by many government ministries. That is why one should not start the fight against illegal actions of the subject on their own: most likely, such a struggle itself will acquire a character that does not comply with the law.