Chairman of the Armenian State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) Artak Shaboyan said that the SPEC is applying the severest measures of punishment towards those enterprises, which violate the antimonopoly legislation.

The current measures of punishment are relatively mild, however, under the agreement signed between the SPEC and World Bank, the works on the bill on introduction of amendments to the antimonopoly legislation should be completed by July 15, Shaboyan told journalists. He added that the bill foresees toughening of punishment measures.

In his turn, Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan Sergey Kapinos added that imposition of fines on violators of the antimonopoly legislation is a widely used international practice, but small fines are ineffective, while huge fines may lead to negative consequences.

“Fines can be an effective instrument of antimonopoly policy only if they are not the only means of struggle and if country’s competition environment is improved. Besides, the judicial system’s efficiency should be increased,” he said, adding that the OSCE supports the judicial reform that is currently implemented in Armenia.