OREANDA-NEWS. July 14, 2011. Market analysis is one of the most difficult tasks in American judicial practice related to antimonopoly cases. At the Second Russian – American Conference in Moscow experts of US Courts shared their experience of such disputes with Russian colleagues, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

A judge of U.S. Circuit Court, Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, Michael Melloy said that in the USA antimonopoly cases are considered at the federal courts of general jurisdiction and there is no special federal court to consider commercial disputes. According to American experts, it requires judges to have vast experience and necessary knowledge to be able to give comprehensive consideration to violations of commercial activities. Typically in such disputes judges rely on the opinions of lawyers and experts used by the parties.

Antimonopoly law in the US is based on two regulatory legal acts: the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act. As well as the Russian Law “On Protection of Competition”, these documents prohibit cartels, collusions, agreements – everything that contradict development and support of competition, reduce opportunities for innovations and deprives consumers of their right to chose.

“Proving anticompetitive effects is the key issue in the judicial proceedings in the United States”, pointed out a judge of U.S. District Court Judge, District of Connecticut, Janet Hall. She said that it is not easy to prove that the respondent is innocent, so it is important to develop the legal framework and judges who consider antimonopoly cases must accumulate relevant experience. At the same time, some violations are undoubtedly harmful for competition (price cartels, geographical market division, bid-rigging, boycotts). In these cases it is not necessary to prove anticompetitive consequences of such actions. These anticompetitive actions are classified as per se violations and committing such violations inevitable means criminal liability.