OREANDA-NEWS. October 06, 2010. A Commission of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) found that “Apteka-Holding” CJSC, “Katren” Scientific-and-Production Corporation, “PROTEK” Implementation Centre” CJSC and “Rosta” CJSC violated Clause 8 Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” (prohibiting competition-restricting agreements and concerted actions), reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.                                    

Earlier the Federal Antimonopoly Service received a petition of an individual entrepreneur Zhabotin, who reported about signs of antimonopoly violations in the actions of some distributors of pharmaceuticals.

An individual entrepreneur Zhabotin promotes and provides support to the “Real Select” programme in the Yaroslavl, Vologda and Kostroma regions. Through “Real Select” pharmacies, hospitals and other institutions are able to compare prices offered by distributors of pharmaceuticals, send orders and receive electronic documentation from the distributors.

In the beginning of March 2010 all users of “Real Select” received copies of a joint letter signed by directors of the above distributors of pharmaceutical products, which asked users to stop using “Real Select” and from 1st April 2010 start using alternative programmes.

As of 1 March 2010, “Real Select” has over 300 users, the number of whom has dropped down by over than half.

FAS Russia concluded that concerted actions of distributors of pharmaceuticals created obstacles for entry of an individual entrepreneur Zhabotin top the market of information services in the field of pharmaceuticals trade.

FAS Russia will issue a determination to the distributors to stop the antimonopoly violation and will initiate an administrative case under Part 1 Article 14.32 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations.

Reference:

Clause 8 Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” prohibiting agreements and concerted actions between economic entities if such agreements or concerted actions lead or can lead to preventing market entry or exit for other economic entities.