Radostovets: sectoral legislation need revision

17:49, 8 November 2016

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The proposals of the Ministry of National Economy to reform the economic legislation are claimed to allow new companies approach the market, Executive Director of the National Association of Mining and Metallurgic Enterprises, President of the Union of Goods Producers and Exporters of Kazakhstan Nikolay Radostovets commented in his interview to Kazinform.

During the Government meeting today Minister of National Economy Kuandyk Bishimbayev noted that Kazakhstan has anti-monopoly legislation which meets the OECD standards, however the level of competition remains low. One of the causes, according to the Ministry data, is within the norms of economic legislation which appears to conflict with the basic principles of competition. According to the Minister, for development of competition on the legal grounds, there administrative, economic, technical and other barriers in the basic markets which are impossible for new entities to overcome. Bishimbayev says, "it is time we should carry out a revision of the sectoral laws".

"We should expand the access of new entities to the markets to ensure more active competition. We need a thorough analysis of each sector and, based on that, launch the mechanisms which are suggested by the Committee of Regulation of Natural Monopolies and Competition Protection", Nikolay Radostovets said.

According to Nikolay Radostovets changes in the industry-specific legislation are needed because it sets the rules for entities to ensure competition. "This issue has been pending for quite long, and ultimately it is sectoral legislation which impacts the condition of business and consumers who buy or use services. I think that all ministries should support the attempts of the Ministry of National Economy", he added.

Radostovets underlined that the existing barriers block production development and application of new technologies.

In reply to the question "how soon will a consumer feel the change?" he said "it is not a matter of one day". "I think it may happen within a few months after introduction of specific changes in the legislation. In some cases it may take longer time."

Economy