Supporting Production in Wartime Should Not Lead to Violation of Fair Competition

Experts, stressing the need to support economic enterprises and preserve production capacity, emphasized the necessity of preventing non-transparent subsidies and safeguarding fair competition under conditions of war and sanctions.

According to Ambassador Arjan, quoted by the Competition Council, in continuation of the series of think-tank meetings of the National Competition Center, in order to provide a platform for decision-making based on research and studies, a specialized meeting "Necessities of competition rights in the country's war atmosphere" was held in Tarbiat Modares University in cooperation with the Economics Research Institute of Tarbiat Modares University.

At the beginning of this meeting, Lotfali Aqli, a member of the academic faculty of Tarbiat Modares University's Economics Research Institute, explained the principles and requirements of competition rights during war and conflict, while referring to the principles of fair competition in normal conditions and enumerating economic events under war conditions.

In the continuation of his speech, Aqli explained the functions of competition in the supply of public procurement during the war, which includes economic function, anti-corruption function, industrial function and security function. According to this academic faculty member of Tarbiat Modares University Economics Research Institute, in war conditions, countries face challenges in terms of trade policy and competition. Also, the destruction of production and logistics infrastructures, the reduction of export opportunities, the closure of traditional trade routes and the increase of the risk of economic activities, cause significant changes in the domestic and foreign markets. This situation, in turn, requires the renewal of production, innovation and the implementation of sustainable development standards. According to Aqli, war drastically changes the conditions of competition and trade.

This university professor believes that: in war conditions, supporting businesses is necessary to maintain production capacity, but excessive and non-transparent subsidies also violate the principles of fair competition. As a result of the war, the logistics system is disrupted, sea transportation, rail and road routes are affected, the cost of transportation increases and the capacity of the infrastructure decreases. In this situation, institutional support for competition plays a fundamental role in maintaining market stability in war conditions.

Mohammad Sadegh Farahani, a post-doctorate student in competition law and vice president of legal affairs and parliamentary affairs of the virtual national center, as another member of the specialized meeting panel, stated: In addition to war conditions, the country's embargo conditions are also among economic emergencies.

He further added that a specific and important mechanism for legislation in the field of emergency situations, especially war, has been foreseen in the country, and he continued: Of course, with all these arrangements, considering the general conditions of the country and the threats against it, the parliament is not the only legislative body for emergency situations, especially in the field of competition.

In this regard, he referred to decision-making institutions such as the National Security Council and cited examples of decisions made by this institution on various issues.

At the end of this meeting, Mohammad Mahdi Mujahidi Zahar, a member of the academic faculty of Allameh Tabatabai University, while thanking the organizers of this meeting for dealing with the topical issue affecting the country, addressed the issue of competition and war from a theoretical and experimental perspective.

Referring to Iran's previous experiences in the eight-year war, Mojahedi mentioned increasing the general welfare of the society, reducing the concerns of consumers, facilitating competition between economic actors, supporting small businesses, and guaranteeing sustainable employment among the goals of competition rights.

It is worth mentioning that this meeting, which was held at Tarbiat Modares University Economics Research Institute, with the presence of the Chairman of the Council and the National Competition Center, experts, thinkers and experts, ended with a question and answer session between the audience and speakers.