OREANDA-NEWS. February 27, 2008. The court of Arbitration of St. Petersburg and Leningrad oblast has upheld the claim of OJSC North-West Telecom re. overruling the resolution of UFAS (Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service) on breach of the Federal Law on Advertising

On 31st January 2008 the Court of Arbitration of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast upheld the claim of OJSC N.W.Telecom as the plaintiff as to overruling the Resolution and Prescriptions of the Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (UFAS) for St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast of 14.09.2007 in re case N Р09-182/07.

On 14th September 2007 UFAS for St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast recognized in its Resolution that actions of OJSC N.W. Telecom as advertiser contained some breaches of part 7, article 5 of the Federal Law on advertising , that had been manifested in "the absence of a part of essential information on the conditions of acquisition or use of the service in the advertising of the Home Internet Avangard ADSL service…"

In compliance with the RF legislation, OJSC North-West Telecom applied with a suit to the Court of Arbitration of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast re. overruling the Resolution of UFAS.

Having studied the materials of the case, the Court came to the conclusion that the statement that the absence of data on technical capabilities of telephone exchanges misleads the subscriber or distorts information is a groundless broadening of the provision s of clause 7, article 5 of the Federal Law on Advertising:

- all information releases on the Avangard service submitted in the case contain operator's details (web-site address and the number of telephone for information), using which a person could learn about the terms of connection , i.e. the information directly states that one should find out separately the details of the connection procedure;

- none of the available information releases contained in the case states that any subscriber may be so connected unconditionally.

In the opinion of the court of arbitration, under the circumstances that have been set forth, the demand of the Prescription of UFAS of 14.09.07 on taking off the advertisements due to breach of clause 7, article 5 of the Federal Law on Advertising contradicts both the essence of the information provided and the provision s of the Federal Law on Advertising.

The decision of the court of arbitration will take legal effect upon expiry of a month's time from the day it is made, unless an appeal is lodged.