OREANDA-NEWS. December 28, 2010. The Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation reversed the rulings of the Courts of three instances and confirmed the rightness of FAS Russia.

On 21st December 2010, the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation reversed judicial acts of the Court of First Instance, Appeal Court and Cassation Court on the case of a non-commercial organization “Kuzbass Alcohol Union” “Garantia Kachestva” – “RSA” Ltd.

On 2nd June 2009, Kemerovo OFAS Russia established the fact that a non-commercial organization “Kuzbass Alcohol Union” “Garantia Kachestva” – “RSA” Ltd. and its members (organizations involved in retail trade with alcohol products) violated Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” (reaching a competition-restricting agreement).

Organizations – members of the Alcohol Union reached the agreement to fix the same retail prices for alcohol products. Members of the Union agreed to observe a unified pricing policy in retail sale of alcohol products made in the Kemerovo region, and fix minimum retail price for vodka made outside the Kemerovo region.

“Kuzbass Alcohol Union” “Garantia Kachestva” – “RSA” Ltd. disagreed with the FAS Russia’s decision and filed a lawsuit to the Arbitration Court requesting to invalidate it.

Kemerovo Regional Arbitration Court, and later the 7th Arbitration Appeal Court and the Federal Arbitration Court if the West-Siberian District allowed the claim in full.

Then FAS Russia petitioned to the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation that about the errors in conclusions made by the Court of three instances.

The Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation reviewed the case in exercise of its supervisory powers and concluded that all judicial acts must be reversed in full, which means that the FAS Russia’s claim is now allowed in full.
“Our OFAS, as well as all antimonopoly bodies in general can be proud of the findings of the Supreme Arbitration Court”, says the Head of the Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Kemerovo region, Ms. Natalia Kukharskaya. “Undoubtedly, it is upsetting that the Arbitration Courts of lower level initially did not arrive to correct conclusions on the case so OFAS invested a lot of time and efforts to prove our position. Nevertheless, full support given by the Supreme Court Instance to the OFAS argumentation only underlines the rightness of our initial decision”.