OREANDA-NEWS. December 25, 2008. The Moscow Arbitration Court allowed the claim of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) on invalidating the tenders for the licenses for the services of mobile radiotelephone communications, organized by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications and Mass Communication (formerly Rossvyazokhrankultura), reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

FAS Russia filed the claim on invalidating the tenders based on its decision, according to which the Federal Communication Agency, that had developed and approved the tender documentation, violated Part 1 Article 17 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition".

Investigating the case, FAS Russia established that the provisions of the criteria for bids evaluation had created advantageous conditions for the bidders that had had a license for the tender territory of the lot, even if they had had no experience on the market of communication services. The provisions led to restricting competition on the market of the services of mobile radiotelephone communications and created preconditions for rejecting the bids of the operators without such licenses.

Therefore, criteria provisions that created advantageous conditions for the bidders, who had a license for the tender territory of the lot, violated Clause 2 Part 1 Article 17 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition".

Under Article 17 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", actions that can result in restricting, preventing or eliminating competition are forbidden in competitive bidding.

FAS Russia filed a claim to a court of law. The Moscow Arbitration Court confirmed that the tenders for the licenses for the services of mobile radiotelephone communications were organized with violations of the antimonopoly legislation.

"As a result of the court ruling, licensees for provision of cellular services in Siberia and Russian Far East will be determined on the basis of based of the outcome of new tenders, which will be organized under competitive conditions, without restricting the number of bidders",- said Dmitry Rutenberg, the Deputy Head of the Department for Control of Transport and Communications.