OREANDA-NEWS  On 26 February was announced, that the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation almost unanimously approved the draft Federal Law "On Introducing Amendments to the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" and Other Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation" in a first reading. The draft law was formulated by FAS Russia. 412 members of the parliament voted in favour of the amendments.

Presenting the draft Federal Law on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation, Igor Artemyev, the Head of FAS Russia, thanked members of the parliament for their critical comments and suggestions on the draft law and promised to take them into account in preparing the draft Law for its second reading by the State Duma.

As emphasized by Eugenie Fyodorov, the Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma on Economic Policy and Entrepreneurship, "the draft Law creates new opportunities for developing competition in Russia".

On 19th February 2009, the Committee of the State Duma on Constitutional Legislation and State-Building also backed the draft Federal Law "On Introducing Amendments to the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations and Other Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation" and recommended the State Duma to adopt the draft Law in a first reading.

The provisions of the draft Laws make considerable changes to the antimonopoly legislation and introduce coherent legal remedies and legislative amendments that will facilitate development of competition on the markets in the Russian Federation.

The State Duma will also review the draft Law on amendments to Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which introduces criminal labiality for the antimonopoly violations. The draft Law, devised by FAS Russia, establishes the principle of inevitability of punishment for socially dangerous violations of the antimonopoly legislation, and equips the law-enforcement bodies with a real possibility of applying Article 178.