OREANDA-NEWS. January 26, 2010. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) found that "Rusperforator" Scientific-and-Production Enterprise CJSC, "Perm Power Plant" Federal State-Owned Enterprise, "Kalinin Chemical Plant" OJSC, "Promsynthez" OJSC, "Sverdlov Plant" Federal State-Owned Enterprise, "Bryansk Chemical Plant" Federal State Unitary Enterprise and "Plastic Works" Federal State Unitary Enterprise, violated Parts 1 and 3 Article 11 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The companies violated the law by fixing identical prices for several industrial explosives.

The case was instated upon a petition of "Sevurakbauxitrouda" OJSC (Severouralsk), which is a mining company involved in production of aluminum-bearing raw materials (bauxites) by underground technique using industrial explosives.

"Perm Power Plant" Federal State-Owned Enterprise, "Kalinin Chemical Plant" OJSC, "Promsynthez" OJSC, "Sverdlov Plant" Federal State-Owned Enterprise, "Bryansk Chemical Plant" Federal State Unitary Enterprise and "Plastic Works" Federal State Unitary Enterprise produce and supply industrial explosives.

"Rusperforator" Scientific-and-Production Enterprise CJSC is their agent for distributing industrial explosives.

Being unable to find out competitors' prices and not willing to participate in completion, those manufacturers of industrial explosives were fixing the same prices for certain industrial explosives, reached by oral agreements between the executive officers and experts of the enterprises.

Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" prohibits agreements between economic entities or concerted actions of economic entities on the product market if such agreements or concerted actions lead or can lead to fixing or maintaining prices (rates), discounts, mark-ups, surcharges.

"Rusperforator" Scientific-and-Production Enterprise CJSC acted as a coordinator and an interlink, whose main function was to distribute the orders between manufacturers of industrial explosives as well as to supply most part of raw materials required to produce industrial explosives.

Part 3 Article 11 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" prohibits coordination of economic activity of market participants if such coordination leads or can lead to fixing or maintaining prices (rates), discounts, mark-ups, surcharges.

Under Article 14.32 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations, concerted actions are punishable by a fine from 1 to 15% of the companies' turnover in the market where the violation was committed.

"Possibility that several independent, competing enterprises, with different economic conditions, simultaneously fixed exactly the same product price, is miserable, unless somebody, whose opinion they cannot ignore, directed them to this price", said Deputy Head of FAS Russia. "FAS Russia knows that other economic entities involved in mining engineering also suffered from such actions of manufacturers of industrial explosives".