OREANDA-NEWS. May 12, 2010. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) found that the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation of (Rosalcoholregulirovanie) violated Part 1 Article 15 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The case was initiated upon a petition of "Vinograph" Ltd. Having investigated the complaint, FAS Russia established that the company presented a complete package of documents to Rosalcoholregulirovanie, required for the license for purchase, storage and supply of alcohol products. However, Rosalcoholregulirovanie requested additional documents and put forward non-statutory requirements, particularly, not provided for by No.171-FZ Federal Law "On State Regulations of Production and Circulation of Ethanol, and Alcohol-Containing Products".

When the petitioner presented to Rosalcoholregulirovanie the certificates necessary to grant the license (certificates on conformity of the premises to sanitary-and-epidemiological and fire safety requirements), Rosalcoholregulirovanie saw fit to additionally examine to conclusions of the supervisory bodies responsible for such inspections, although Rosalcoholregulirovanie does not have such authority. According to its representative, it may be deduced that any government agencies have a right to doubt authenticity and origin of official certificates due to a widespread practice of obtaining such documents through the "back door", and then make decisions of petitions based on the agency's own conclusions.

The representative of Rosalcoholregulirovanie also confirmed that such decision-making on petitions is of systemic rather than individual nature, and is based on the agency's authority to limit the market for circulation of alcohol products.

Having heard the arguments of the representative of Rosalcoholregulirovanie аnd examined the documents presented by the parties, the FAS Russia's Commission arrived to the conclusion that explanations given Rosalcoholregulirovanie had a rather liberal interpretation of provisions of normative legal acts of the Russian Federation, which is not based on the norms of the current legislation.

The FAS Russia's Commission concluded that actions of Rosalcoholregulirovanie infringed legitimate interests of "Vinograph" Ltd., preventing its entry to the relevant market by setting requirements to economic entities that are not provided for by the laws of the Russian Federation.

Within the statutory period Rosalcoholregulirovanie will receive a determination specifying the requirements for eliminating the consequences of the violation and preventing restriction of competition. FAS Russia is also looking into a possibility to open an administrative case.

According to FAS Russia, arbitrary interpretation of the laws creates subjectivity in decision-making by the authorities, and as a consequence, is a fertile ground for corruption. Such actions of the authorities prevent establishment of clear, precise and unified rules for all market participants.