Հայաստանում տավարի մսի շուկան և խոշոր եղջերավոր անասունների սպանդի կազմակերպատնտեսական խնդիրները / Some issues of protecting economic competition in Armenia

More than 23 years of activity of the Commission for the Protection of Competition (hereinafter referred to as the Commission or KPC) shows that, despite some positive experience, the government body has not achieved serious professional success. According to the authors, this is due to a disrespectful change in the composition of the commission and the imperfection of the mechanism for forming this governing body. This is evidenced by the study of annual programs and reports of the Commission of different periods. The analysis of commodity markets reveals a large number of professional errors and omissions. In particular, the number of firms, their sales volumes, concentration ratios (CR3) and divisions of the top three largest firms were presented in the chapter “Product Market Analysis” of the Commission's 2008 report. However, identifying these indicators represents only one element of a comprehensive analysis. The purpose of product market analysis is to assess the state of the competitive environment within these markets, yet the report does not provide any such evaluations. This omission suggests that the commission members and relevant specialists lack the necessary professional expertise. In many cases, this is the reason for the unreliability of the assessment of the competitive environment. According to the authors, the formation of a commission should exclude the influence of subjective factors. In particular, this can be achieved through the formation of professional, independent and transparent recruitment banks.