Trade Exhibitions Should Encourage Competition, not War

The RF CCI Committee for Fairs and Exhibition Activities and Support of Producers and Exporters convened a meeting to discuss the problem of unfair competition among Russian exhibition organizers and venue owners when trade fairs organize identical themes simultaneously. Unfair competition is becoming increasingly common in Russia and affects the domestic market of exhibition services. It impairs the effectiveness of trade fairs’ activities and causes confusion amongst the participants, who represent members of international professional exhibition organizations, including UFI, IUEF and the Exhibitions and Fairs Guild of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Unfair competition undermines the trust of our overseas partners, inflicts unnecessary damage on the exhibition community and violates the Codes of IUEF and the Exhibitions and Fairs Guild of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce. Crocus International, in particular, hosts exhibitions that parallel those held by Agrosystemmash, All-Russia Exhibition Center, Expodesign, Expocentr, and ElitExpoStroy. Participants at the meeting proposed that exhibition organizers and venue owners in Moscow and the Moscow region, including All-Russia Exhibition Center, Gostiny Dvor, Crocus International, Sokolniki, and Expocentr, as well as other companies concerned, should take measures to resolve disputes in compliance with valid codes of professional ethics. Also, the participants agreed to establish a working group to enhance exhibition activities and to increase coordination among the parties. Deputy committee chairman I.A. Korotin was appointed head of the working group. It was also recommended that a subcommittee on legal and regulatory procedures for exhibition activities implement the proposals introduced by the working group when elaborating legislation on exhibition activities in the Russian Federation.