Economic analysis is one of the key elements of the state competition policy system. The issue of the quality of analytical research carried out by the antimonopoly authorities has been topical and highly controversial for many years. Many scientific works have been devoted to the role of economic analysis in Russian antitrust, the most significant contributions were made by I. V. Knyazeva, A. G. Tsyganov, A. E. Shastitko, S. B. Avdasheva, A. A. Kurdin. This study proposes the stageization of the evolution of economic analysis depending on the processes of transformation of competition policy in the country, and, as a consequence, the development of the powers of antimonopoly authorities. The article outlines the prerequisites for a new stage in the evolution of economic analysis, due to the transition of traditional markets to a new business format — digital, the emergence of new markets based on IT-technologies. The new philosophy of market regulation requires fundamentally new methodological approaches to assessing the state of competition in them.

The subject of the authors’ research is a preliminary draft of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Recommendation on Open Science, which was presented to the world community at the end of September 2020. According to the draft Recommendation, “open science” is understood as a framework concept of various institutions and forms of activity aimed at “making scientific knowledge, methods, data and facts open and accessible to all”. According to the authors, making the fruits of science available to all mankind and making them the property of all mankind is not the same thing.

The declaration of free access to “scientific raw materials” does not mean that all countries receive equal opportunities for its “extraction”, processing, creation of new goods on its basis and receiving income from their sale. These opportunities today are focused on the “global North”, or rather in that part of it, which essentially monopolized the world markets for collecting, storing, processing, examining and publishing the primary results of scientific research.

According to the authors, the concept of “Open Science” proposed to the world community in relation to modern economic and legal realities is the concept of devaluation of “scientific raw materials” in order to obtain the maximum profit from the turnover of goods created with its use by a narrow circle of beneficiaries.

The interests of Russia, most of the world’s states and scientists are not to consist in supplying the collective world dominant with “scientific raw materials” at a negative cost, i.e. paying extra for it, and then buying everything new, science-intensive and useful from it.

An alternative to the instrument of “soft” dictate against national governments and the majority of scientists, proposed on behalf of UNESCO, could be the initiation of a general Convention on Science, which would solve real economic and legal problems of the circulation of scientific results, including issues of their receipt, global monitoring, storage, processing, expertise, assessment, remuneration of scientists’ labor.

The article’s authors propose at the political level to openly abandon the previously chosen model of organization and legal regulation of Russian science, focused on the interests of the global North.

The article explores the state of dominant situation in digital markets from the point of view of Russian and foreign legislation.

The conclusion is justified that traditional antitrust measures of the dominant situation (including those related to collective dominance) cannot be applied to the digital market, since market shares and concentration ratios based on market shares will not be significant indicators in the market environment.

It is proposed to use new criteria for determining the dominant position of a subject in the digital market, for example, direct and indirect network effects, parallel use of a service from different suppliers, etc.

The article discusses questions of theory, as well as foreign practice of qualification of the so-called “Hub and Spoke” agreements, considered as agreements that limit competition between competitors in the absence of direct agreement between them. According to the authors, a “Hub and Spoke” agreement should be qualified as an “other” agreement that leads or may lead to restriction of competition (part 4 of article 11 of the Federal Law № 135 “On the Protection of Competition”).

Alliances are a key element of modern liner shipping. This article introduces alliances as a new form of consolidation of container lines and offers general information about their activity. The authors examined numerous reliable sources to evaluate different factors which influence the results of shipping lines' participation in global alliances. The authors offer their appraisal of alliances based on research as well as their own experience in shipping. They consider the liner market as an oligopoly of a few companies, which are closely intertwined with the world’s largest corporations and where international law has been substituted with a control by regulators from some of the most powerful countries in the liner trade. This system allows the business of some customers to be protected, while applying limitations on others. Undoubtedly, the alliances have an influence on Russian foreign trade. In summary, the authors believe that the Russian authorities should carefully investigate and control the service of global carriers and alliances. The chief aim of effective control is the free participation of Russian companies in foreign trade, which is not possible without due support of maritime transport. The alliances are truly global entities. They combine both traditional and new methods, including cutting-edge capabilities of information and digital technologies. To prevent a negative influence of the oligopoly, a new international initiative to regulate the alliances as was done with shipping conferences is highly welcomed by the authors.

The article examines a number of key problems in the fight against illicit medicines trafficking in Russia in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the development of a set of organizational and legal measures to increase the effectiveness of such a fight. The author concludes that the scale and severity of the various consequences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are, to a certain extent, due to imperfect state control over the shadow pharmaceutical sector. In particular, many standard measures of government response to drug trafficking are not effective enough to ensure reliable protection of the population from the negative impact of illegal circulation of counterfeit, substandard, unregistered, counterfeit drugs.

The measures proposed by the author are aimed at improving the efficiency of the system for preventing drug trafficking not only in relation to the modern conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also designed to ensure state control over the production and circulation of drugs in any emergency conditions.

In this article discussed basic concept of Russian public procurement. Also stated the problem of monopsony byer power during tendering procedures or unfair competition in the sphere of public procurement. This happenes when byer sets restricting parameters on technical requirement documents for tendering objects. Accordingly, in the authors’ view the most effective way of counteracting this problem is public control. This article contains results of the survey that was made during the research that suggest an almost direct correlation between nominal saving and number of complaints filed against the organizer of public procurement procedures. Moreover, this article contains overview on the Russian public control institution. The article ends with a authors idea of efficient in combating monopsony byer power in public procurement by creating a special internet service for filling complaints and suggestions of public procurement stakeholders. This data hub will increase efficiency of interaction between stakeholders, organizers and government.

The problem of allocation by state authorities (local self-government bodies) of subsidies to state (municipal) institutions as financial support for the performance of state (municipal) tasks for the performance of works (provision of services) that are the authority of a state authority (local self-government body) is considered. It is noted that the possibility of granting such subsidies in accordance with the rules of budget legislation does not in itself mean that the relevant actions cannot have a real or potential negative impact on the state of competition. It is established that subsidization of budgetary institutions for the performance of works (services) that are state (municipal) needs, without conducting competitive procedures, entails unjustifiably granting a preferential position to the relevant institutions over other economic entities.

The paper is demonstrates the results of consumer satisfaction monitoring with the services of natural monopolies in the Leningrad Region. The article reveals some reasons for the dissatisfaction of respondents. The authors identify the problems in natural monopolies and partners relations and propose ways to solve them.

The purpose of the article is to identify and clarify the main features of the functioning and implementation of the antimonopoly compliance system at electric power enterprises. The main idea of the article is to use various methods (analysis, induction, etc.) to conduct a study of changes in domestic legislation that relate to the legislative consolidation of the antimonopoly compliance system. Based on statistical data and data from scientific sources, we can identify the main areas of activity of energy companies, where violations of antitrust legislation are most common, which will be identified and prevented by the antitrust compliance system. The scientific novelty of this article is confirmed by the almost absent publications of other authors, which study the effectiveness of the antimonopoly compliance system in the field of electric power industry. The author comes to the conclusion that the antitrust compliance system is an effective mechanism that allows identifying antitrust risks both inside the company and outside it. An increase in the number of companies that have antitrust compliance services will reduce the number of illegal violations by unscrupulous market participants, while these circumstances affect not only the electric power industry, but also other areas of the Russian economy. According to the author, the implementation of antitrust compliance will help to: l) reduce the number of offences committed by companies; 2) to prevent the actions of employees, which may in its work, to violate the antitrust laws; 3) to reduce the number of anti-competitive actions. Availability of antitrust compliance within the company promotes as corporate ethics, and the adoption by the staff of the values of the organization.

Analysis of the legal positions of arbitration courts in cases of violation of antimonopoly laws in terms of consideration of issues: determination of the dominant position of an economic entity, abuse by regulated organizations, abuse of regional operators in the treatment of MSW, approaches to proving anticompetitive agreements.  Target. Development of uniform approaches in law enforcement practice in cases of violation of antitrust laws.