foreign countries, were either relaxed or removed, which calls into question the ability of decision-making, are sufficiently protected from the influence of various political forces. By 1995, only one was formed by a system of regulatory bodies, which operated outside of the line ministries. This is a federal and regional energy commission, created in 1992 to regulate the tariffs for electricity and heat energy. Control of other natural monopolies was done by the relevant ministries (Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Communications). Nevertheless, even in power area until 1995 were not recorded legal basis for regulation. State control over economic activities of natural monopolies has been significantly weakened due to the conversion of many enterprises into joint stock companies, which were dominated by sectoral interests. At the same time the federal government, keeping majority stakes in their hands, not actively involved in the mechanism of corporate and corporate governance. By January 1996 three presidential decree on the establishment of public services on regulation of natural monopolies in the energy industry, communications and transport were adopted. In March and April government decree on the establishment of regulatory bodies were issued, in particular, was determined by the size of their staff. However, at the end of May head of only one service was appointed - the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Appointment to the post of Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy is a compromise with the government-controlled entities. In the first half of 1996 in the sectors - natural monopolies (electricity, gas industry, pipeline transport, railway transport and communications sector), the rise in prices has slowed somewhat compared to previous years of reform. was largely due to the populist policies of the presidential election, as evidenced by a growing problem of non-payment in connection with the adoption of the government decree prohibiting the disconnection of consumers of energy to the middle of May 1996 addition, under pressure from the IMF Government decision on March 21, 1996 were eliminated off-budget funds in the fields of Energy and from April 1 - a stabilization fund of RAO "Gazprom", thus "Gazprom" was deprived of the basic tax relief. However, after the election has taken some tough measures were taken in order to limit the rise in prices of natural monopolies. Since the Presidential Decree of 17 October 1996 the price of electricity, supplied to the wholesale market have been reduced by 10% by Government on April 3, 1997 from the cost of energy were excluded trust funds. Already it was clear that the formation of regulatory authorities would not only long but also painful. does not want to give the appropriate authority. There is an acute problem of funding, it is difficult to attract qualified employees as salaries of civil servants is much lower wages in the same level in regulated companies. of the best industry specialists who could perform such work, hold high positions in organizations that need to be regulated. Therefore, by far the most acute problems of staffing, development of specific management techniques, improving the information base that allows informed decisions. Thus, in the area of ​​legislative and institutional framework for regulation of natural monopolies there have been some important and necessary steps, but much remains to be done both in terms of building an effective system of regulation and the terms of the restructuring of industries, thus allowing a more compact and manageable scope regulation.for the direction of antitrust policy in Russia in the coming years, in December 2001 at a meeting of the Russian Federation Government approved the concept of medium-term government program for 2002-2007. "Structural Change and Economic Growth." It contains a special section on antitrust policy. Antitrust policy in the medium term will be implemented in the following areas:
. Improving the legal framework, forms and methods of antimonopoly control and regulation in order to prevent and combat abuse of market power, collusion, agreements and concerted practices that are the result of restricting competition and infringing the interests of economic entities and citizens of unfair competition.
. De-monopolization of the economy and creating conditions for the development of competition in the monopolized commodity markets with a high degree of concentration of supply, the removal of barriers to competition and market entry of other undertakings. p align="justify">. Opposition to the creation of new monopolistic structures in the redistribution of ownership of the corporate investment policy and the integration process, including the formation of FIGs. p align="justify">. Distribution of antitrust claims in the financial markets, including banking an...
