Christian Democrats demand anti-monopoly service

The Parliamentary minority Christian Democrats are demanding the revival of the anti-monopoly service. Its leader Giorgi Targamadze states that the party, together with German and local analysts, has prepared a draft law on the anti-monopoly service which can be discussed.

The Christian Democrats state that repealing the anti-monopoly legislation was one of the essential elements of Kakha Bendukidze (the former Minister of Economy)'s reforms. It has yielded some dramatic results. Monopolistic entities have appeared in Georgia and competition has been destroyed. The worst monopolies are in the pharmaceutical sphere, and even President Saakashvili has criticised these. There is also an oil and oil products monopoly in Georgia, so the situation is pretty urgent.

The party is quite optimistic about the success of this initiative as official bodies have expressed their readiness to participate in discussion of its 22 page document. Moreover, adopting anti-monopoly legislation is one of the preconditions of signing a free trade agreement with the EU. Presumably anti-monopoly legislation will protect small and medium-sized businesses and consumers. However the reintroduction and implementation of such legislation depends on the goodwill of the State.