OREANDA-NEWS. July 14, 2011. The Head of the FAS Russia’s Legal Department, Sergey Puzyrevsky informed representatives of judicial communities from Russia and the USA about some aspects of enforcement of the antimonopoly law in Russia, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

“The objective of the Russian government and the competition authority is to develop competition where there are monopolies”, stated Sergey Puzyrevsky. “However, many issues arise under the conditions where monopolies move from one economic regime to another”.

Railway transportations, gas transmission or electric power transmission are natural monopolies in the modern Russia. And often fixing prices on a particular market of goods and services directly depends on such economic entity.

“Recognizing a company a dominant entity on a particular market depends on the evidence presented and the market itself”, pointed out Sergey Puzyrevsky. “Determining market shares and enforcement of the provisions of the antimonopoly law is the main problem for the antimonopoly authority and the courts in Russia”.

Economic analysis of markets showed that under the conditions of the current financial crisis, the level of European prices is considerably lower than in Russia. Such situation in Russia is primarily formed by monopolies, as could be observed when prices for oil products increased once again.

The position taken by FAS Russia in its dispute with the largest vertically – integrated oil companies was fully supported by the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, that confirmed legitimacy of the decisions of the antimonopoly authority about the facts of monopolistically high prices, discrimination of independent traders as well as removal goods from circulation in the Russian Federation.

Sergey Puzyrevsky also said that half of all cases considered by FAS Russia constitute disputes of the antimonopoly body with the government agencies. For instance, in 2011 FAS found that the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation violated the antimonopoly law. The Ministry failed to undertake proper measures and its restricted import of particular goods to Russia. Deputy Chair of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Tatiana Andreeva, expressed the position taken by the judiciary: “It’s bad when the government agencies do not follow the FAS Russia’s decisions and fail to execute the determinations, bringing the case to court”.

According to representatives of the antimonopoly authority and the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, today some of the main avenues to improve interaction between FAS Russia and other government agencies should be comprehensive discussions and efforts to resolve the issues related to development of competition, making balanced decisions about market regulation, and improving knowledge of the government officials and judges about the state of competition in Russia and the prospects for its development.