Industrial Policy in the EAEU Countries: Challenges and Solutions for Kazakhstan in the Competition and Intellectual Property Law

The paper describes and examines the industrial policies of the Eurasian Economic Union member states. It shows the need to adjust the traditional type of industrial policy of the Eurasian Economic Union countries, which relies on leading industries. The purpose of this article is to identify the main challenges for the industrial policy in Kazakhstan, taking into account its participation in the EAEU and the risks associated with distortion of competition as a result of hostile mergers and acquisitions, and to propose solutions intended to ensure a balance between competition protection and industrial policy. The paper’s objectives are to review the problems arising at the intersection of trade, innovation, and intellectual property in the EAEU countries and to develop recommendations for industrial and innovation policy. The article considers two main issues in accordance with the purpose: the industrial policy problems in the EAEU countries; the use of intellectual property and competition law for the development and protection of innovations. It is shown that the industrial policy of Kazakhstan and other EAEU countries remains insufficiently effective and has a contradictory nature. Since 2000, the economic complexity index decreased in most EAEU countries, the intensity of industrialization remained low, and the share of medium and high-tech manufacturing diminished. There is a need to adjust the traditional type of industrial policy, to exclude selective advantages to specific firms, to focus on industry-wide industrial policy, the insufficient experience of EAEU member states in counteracting hostile and murderous takeovers, the complexity of innovation development system, protection of competition within the integration.