OREANDA-NEWS. April 28, 2009. The Government of the Russian Federation passed No.314 Decree approving the Rules of Governmental Control over Economic Concentration of the use of water objects. The governmental control functions of the use of water objects will be exercised by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia), reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation was adopted in follow-up of Part 3 Article 40 of the Water Code of the Russian Federation as well as Part 4 Article 22 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition". Under those statutory norms, the antimonopoly authority is responsible for governmental control over economic concentration of the use of land, subsoil, water and other natural resources, particularly, in course of the tenders organized as provided for by the federal laws.

The Rules of Governmental Control Over Economic Concentration of the use of water objects establish that the antimonopoly authority must be informed, by sending notifications, about the completed transactions or other actions on acquiring the rights of using a water area more than 100,000 sq.m. by a person (a group of persons), which is necessary and sufficient for an economic entity to exercise different types of water use, including adjacent activities, when a person or a group of persons influences or can influence the level of competition on the markets of different types of works or services that are carried out or provided with the use of water objects.

The procedures for processing such notifications and decision-making by the antimonopoly authority are similar to the procedures specified in Chapter 7 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition".

Currently FAS Russia is devising the Administrative Regulations for exercising the governmental function for processing the notifications about transactions, or other actions that change the level of economic concentration of the use of water objects, as well as the form for presenting the necessary information as part of such notifications.