OREANDA-NEWS. August 30, 2011. Deputy Head of FAS Russia Andrey Kashevarov made a presentation at the Round Table about “Controversial Issues in the Work of Antimonopoly Bodies of Russia and Ukraine and the Avenues for Resolving Them”, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The first part of his presentation for Ukrainian colleagues, Deputy Head of FAS Russia devoted to unfair competition, which means any actions of economic entities or a group of persons aimed at gaining entrepreneurial advantages contrary to the law of the Russian Federation, usual and customary business practices, and requirements of honesty, reasonableness and justness. Such actions have inflicted or can inflict damages upon competitors or harm their business reputation. The list of the forms of unfair competition is not exhaustive, pointed out Andrey Kashevarov.

Talking about the forms of unfair competition Deputy Head of FAS Russia addressed the following: misrepresentation regarding the goods producers, the place of goods production (Clause 2 Part 1 Article 14 of the Law); incorrect comparison of goods produced and distributed by an economic entity with the goods produced and distributed by other economic entities (Clause 3 Part 1 Article 14 of the Law); sales, exchange or other introduction of goods to circulation with unlawful use of the results of intellectual activities and equal to them means of differentiation of a legal person, means of differentiation of goods,works, services (Clause 4 Part 1 Article 14 of the Law).

Andrey Kashevarov specifically highlighted a very important aspect of unfair competition related to protection of Olympic and Paralympic symbols in course of organising Sochi 2014 Olympic Games. For instance, Article 8 of the Federal Law “On Organisation of ХХII Winter Olympic Games and XI Winter Paralympic Games in 2014 in Sochi” prohibits unfair competition in the form of sales, exchange or other introduction of goods into circulation with unlawful use of Olympic and (or) Paralympic symbols as well as misrepresentation, particularly, by creating a false impression that the producer, advertiser of the goods is involved in the Olympic and (or) Paralympic Games (particularly, as a sponsor).

Then Andrey Kashevarov shared with his Ukrainian colleagues the FAS experience of exposing and gathering evidence on unfair competition. To expose any type of unfair competition practice, an antimonopoly body must obtain evidence, first of all, confirming that a petitioner and the person against whom the petition is filed are competitors. Such evidence include information about the goods and services put into civil circulation (buying-and selling contracts, supply contracts, consignment notes, invoices, advertising leaflets, informational materials, official Internet sites); and samples of goods or their pictures, as well as other evidence.

Collecting and registering on-line evidence, explained Andrey Kashevarov, it is possible to examine protocols of notarial inspections of Internet-sites and inspections of Internet-sites by members of staff of antimonopoly bodies, as well as information about an administrator of a domain name.

Concluding the first part of his presentation on unfair competition, Deputy Head of FAS Russia listed the sanctions for unfair competition; particularly, he emphasised that one of the forms of unfair competition (putting goods into circulation with unlawful use of exclusive rights) is punishable by a “turnover fine”, the size of which depends on the income from selling the goods.

Summing up, Andrey Kashevarov stated: “A large proportion of the authority of the antimonopoly bodies is related to suppressing unfair competition, as it prevents unfair entrepreneurial rivalry and supports normal market development”.

In the second part of his presentation, Andrey Kashevarov focused on certain aspects of enforcement of the law on advertising by the Russian Antimonopoly Service. For instance, Deputy Head of FAS Russia specifically talked about advertisements of financial services. In particular, if a loan advertisement states one of the conditions determining the cost of loan for the borrowers, it must also specify all other such conditions. Andrey Kashevarov also discussed the practice of exposing violations in advertising of dietary supplements and tobacco advertising and reported about proposed changes to the legislation in this field.

Finally, Andrey Kashevarov stated: “In general, the law on advertising is designed in such a manner to prevent misrepresentation and disseminating incorrect information through advertising”.