OREANDA-NEWS. On August 12, 2008 the Novosibirsk Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (OFAS Russia) recognized that "Russian Railways" ("RZhD") OJSC, in the person of its branch - "West-Siberian Railway" violated Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" (abusing dominant position on a goods market) and issued a determination to eliminate the violations, the press-centre of FAS Russia reported.

Earlier the Novosibirsk OFAS Russia was approached by "Novosibirskenergospetsremont" CJSC, which reported that the Semeshko Maintenance Section (Novosibirsk) - a business unit of the Novosibirsk branch of the West-Siberian Railway - unlawfully charged for passing of bulky and heavy-lift cargos through a railway crossing.

According to the branch of "RZhD" OJSC, the charges constituted legitimate compensation of expenses for maintaining the railway crossing (remuneration of the workers handling the cargo passing).

The Novosibirsk OFAS Russia established that taking the charges taken by the company for passing of bulky and heavy-lift cargos through a railway crossing contravened the current legislation as expenses for amortization, maintenance and repair of railway crossings are included in the rates for cargo transportation and infrastructure services provided by "RZhD" OJSC. Such charges infringed the interests of the petitioner.

Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" prohibits actions (lack of actions) by an economic entity that has dominant position, which result in preventing, restricting or eliminating competition and (or) infringing the interests of other persons.

Having investigated the case, the Novosibirsk OFAS Russia issued a determination to "Russian Railways" OJSC requesting the company to stop antimonopoly violations and to transfer the unlawfully gained income to the federal budget.