OREANDA-NEWS. December 23, 2010. The Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Ulyanovsk region (Ulyanovsk OFAS Russia) found that Ulyanovsk City Mayor’s Office violated the antimonopoly law. The Mayor’s Office obligated the owners of commercial stands and kiosks to reconstruct and replace them in accordance with the standard projects for kiosks and pavilions (under a single project), reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

According to a petition of an individual entrepreneur Nazyrova, Ulyanovsk City Mayor’s Office obligated entrepreneurs – owners of trade outlets to replace and reconstruct the kiosks at their own expense. In response to refusals to replace and reconstruct the kiosks, the Mayor’s Office refused to prolong the lease contracts for plots of land under the trade outlets (kiosks) owned by the entrepreneurs.

Having considered the case, the Commission of Ulyanovsk OFAS Russia concluded that the requirements set by Ulyanovsk City Mayor’s Office to the exterior of outdoor constructions (trade pavilions and kiosks) in Ulyanovsk were not provided for by normative legal acts. Such actions of the municipal authority were in breach of Clause 2 Part 1 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”.

OFAS also found that the Mayor’s Office Committee for Managing City Property and Land Resources violated Clause 2 Part 1 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”.

The requirements for kiosk exterior included by the Committee in the lease contracts of the land plots allocated for temporary constructions were irrelevant to the subject matter of the contract. The Committee also specified different periods for lease contracts of the land plots for different economic entities, which also violated the antimonopoly law.

Deputy Head of Ulyanovsk OFAS Russia, Pavel Yudin, said that such actions of municipal authorities unreasonably prevents activities of entrepreneurs – owners of trade outlets by forcing the entrepreneurs to replace the trade kiosks, at their own expense, with uniform pavilions under the existing project. In the last two years some of the kiosks were replaced with the new ones upon request of the authorities.

The Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Ulyanovsk region issued determinations to Ulyanovsk City Mayor’s Office and the Mayor’s Office Committee for Managing City Property and Land Resources to stop violating the antimonopoly law.