OREANDA-NEWS. October 14, 2009. The Federal Arbitration Court of the Urals District confirmed the position of the antimonopoly body that "Chelyabinskregiongaz" Ltd. violated Article 10 of the Law on "Protection of Competition". The company delayed issuing petitions on availability of free gas resources to several companies, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The Chelyabinsk OFAS Russia, however, established that in 2007-2008 "Chelyabinskregiongaz" Ltd., without any objective reasons, delayed issuing petitions on availability of free gas resources to "SpartaМ" Ltd., "UralSpetsMash" Ltd. and "Promvysota" CJSC. The dominant gas supplier in the regional gas supply market explained its actions on the grounds that there were no statutory requirements for the petition period. According to "Chelyabinskregiongaz" Ltd., there were no free gas at the time when the companies approached the supplier.

"Chelyabinskregiongaz" Ltd. is a member of the group of persons of "Gazprom" OJSC.

Providing a petition by the gas supplier is a necessary condition for a customer to agree with "Gazprom" OJSC about the use of gas as fuel and for entry to the gas supply market.

Failure to process petitions of economics entities within a reasonable period of time infringed or could have infringed their interests. Lack of response from "Chelyabinskregiongaz" Ltd. (granting a petition or refusing to grant it) prevented companies from exercising their activities and threatened already scheduled events. Due to a such undetermined state, they could not apply to any other gas seller for the necessary petitions, or provide "Gazprom" OJSC petitions on agreement upon the use of natural gas as fuel for customers.

Regulations of "Gazprom" OJSC regarding gas use and issuing approvals do not specify the period for issuing petitions by regional gas suppliers.

The Chelyabinsk OFAS Russia, however, established that the period taken by "Chelyabinskregiongaz" Ltd. to issue approvals (more than 8-10) breached all criteria of reasonableness and bona fide conduct of the parties to civil relations. "Furthermore, the Antimonopoly Service discovered that it's not the first time when the company failed to consider applications of economic entities about issuing petitions on availability of gas resources within a reasonable period of time",- said Anna Kozlova, the Head of the Chelyabinsk OFAS Russia.

The Courts of the First and Appeal Instances also supported the decision made by the antimonopoly body.