OREANDA-NEWS. July 20, 2011. FAS Russia found that the Government of the Republic of Udmurtia unlawfully banned entry of pork from Nizhny Novgorod, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The Commission of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) found that the Government of the Republic of Udmurtia violated Clause 3 Part 1 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”.

On 10th May 2011, FAS Russia initiated a case against the Government of the Republic of Udmurtia upon a complaint of “Miratorg” Ltd.

The Government of the Republic of Udmurtia issued an Order temporary prohibiting entry of swine, pork and pork processing products, feeding stuff and supplementary feeds, cultivated, produced or stored in the Nizhny Novgorod region, to the Republic of Udmurtia.

The Order constituted the grounds for prohibiting “Miratorg” Trading Company” Ltd. to bring pork from the Nizhny Novgorod region.

The FAS Russia’s Commission established that only one farm was placed under quarantine due to African swine fever, and the boundaries of the first and second caution areas were clearly delineated. Therefore, the quarantine was in place only in certain administrative districts of the Nizhny Novgorod region, while the Order restricted entry of pork and pork processing products from the whole Nizhny Novgorod region.

Having investigated the case, the antimonopoly authority found that the Government of the Republic of Udmurtia violated the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”.

The Udmurtia Government abolished the Order. FAS Russia terminated the proceedings against the Government of the Republic of Udmurtia due to voluntary elimination of the antimonopoly violation. The Government of the Republic of Udmurtia abolished the Order that prohibited entry of agricultural products from the Nizhny Novgorod region.

“FAS Russia has already considered several similar cases. In the future we will also suppress any attempts to unreasonably ban or restrict free movement of goods in the Russian Federation and otherwise restrict the rights of economic entities for selling goods”, commented Deputy Head of the Department for Administrative Reform and Control over Paid Government Services, Ms. Svetlana Belozerova.