The bill, which proposes to set a maximum market share

[tanjimajuha20]

The bill, which limits the opening of new pick-up points for marketplaces, provides for measures against those marketplaces whose share in online sales is higher than 25%, the head of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy Andrei Kutepov told Forbes.

The Association of Internet Trade Companies, which unites the largest market players, considers the initiative excessive and harmful - according to online retailers, it threatens the development of small and medium-sized businesses and will negatively affect ordinary buyers

Threshold of 25%
for marketplaces and restrict czech republic whatsapp number database them from opening new points if it is exceeded, is already ready, Andrey Kutepov, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, told Forbes. The bill proposes to set a limit of 25% of all online sales of goods for the previous financial year for marketplaces, he specified.

Kutepov outlined the initiative to restrict the largest marketplaces' right to open new pick-up points in a letter to presidential aide Maxim Oreshkin (Forbes has a copy of the document, and RIA Novosti also reported on the letter).

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has not received any proposals to limit the share of marketplaces, the agency's press service reported. "FAS has repeatedly emphasized the importance of a self-regulation mechanism in this industry, and therefore considers it important for market participants to voluntarily accept obligations to self-limit their unfair practices," the agency's response noted. The Ministry of Industry and Trade advocates for strengthening regulation of e-commerce "given the rapid development of this market, as well as the increased number of problematic issues between marketplaces and their counterparties," State Secretary and Deputy Head of the Ministry Viktor Yevtukhov told Forbes. However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade considers it appropriate to work out changes to the legislation within the framework of the parliamentary bill on online commerce rules already submitted to the State Duma and with the involvement of businesses and relevant government agencies.

Restrictions similar to those proposed in the Federation Council apply to offline grocery chains. They are prohibited from buying or renting new premises if they account for 25% of the turnover in a region, city, municipal district or county (from June 2022 until the end of 2024, the norm was frozen so that retailers could occupy the premises of foreign companies that left). At the same time, marketplaces are initially not limited in opening new pick-up points, which gives them a competitive advantage over other retail, Kutepov emphasized in a letter to Oreshkin. Earlier, the senator insisted that the time had come to regulate the marketplace market. "We missed out on growth in market share in transportation and got a monopoly in the taxi industry," he gave as an example.

"A harmful initiative"
The Federation Council's proposal to set a maximum market share for marketplaces and restrict them from opening new pick-up points if it is exceeded is "not only an excessive but also a harmful initiative," Artem Sokolov, president of the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT, which unites Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex Market, Lamoda, etc.), told Forbes. In his opinion, "the proposal is economically unjustified and will have a negative effect on both the development of small and medium-sized businesses and on buyers."