OREANDA-NEWS. February 21, 2011. The Working Group of the Expert Council at the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) for developing competition in the metal industry discussed the issues of increasing pricing transparency on the market of metallurgical products with limited competition, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The Working Group brought up for discussion the issue of expediency of a commercial policy or any other documents defining the rules for setting the final prices as well as factors affecting the price (the scope of supply, payment conditions, etc.).

FAS Russia believes that informational openness in the field of pricing will protect the interests of consumers and will shield metallurgical companies from unreasonable complaints. It would be useful if a trading policy provides for an exhaustive list of factors affecting pricing, which would include the system of discounts and mark-ups to the reference prices for metallurgical products. Such information should be placed on the official sites of metallurgical companies, so consumers can independently obtain information about the final prices and conditions affecting the price.

Having heard and discussed the reports of representatives of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Commerce, “Severstal” OKSC, “MMK” OJSC, “ChTPZ” OJSC, “Mechel” OJSC, “Metalloinvest” Managing Company” and the “GAZ Group”, the FAS Russia’s Working Group decided to consider proposals of metallurgical companies on the above issues at the earliest date.

Representatives of metallurgical companies supported the decision of FAS Russia.

“In 2010 FAS Russia exposed more than a thousand facts of abusing market dominance, most of which are about consumer discrimination and infringing their rights. In our opinion, the basis for such violations is primarily a lack of transparency of the sales policy of economic entities that dominate the markets. Increasing transparency of the companies’ sales policies, disclosing the conditions affecting the final price of the goods will ensure non-discriminatory access of consumers to monopolistic types of products and reduce probability of conflicts between producers and consumers”, commented the Head of the FAS Russia’s Department for Control over Industry and Defence Complex, Mr. Maxim Ovchinnikov.