OREANDA-NEWS. December 09, 2011. If dealers providing after-sales service of automobiles under warranty have dominant position on the market of after-sales service of automobiles under warranty, their activities are subject to control under the law on protection of competition, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

This statement was emphasised by Deputy Head of FAS Department for Control over Social Sphere and Trade, Mikhail Fedorenko, in course of the first meeting of the FAS Expert Council for developing competition in sales and after-sales services of cars on 30th November 2011.

In his presentation “Specifics of antimonopoly regulation in sales and after-sales services of cars”, Mikhail Fedorenko informed about FAS investigations of petitions from physical persons and legal entities about possible signs of antimonopoly violations in some actions of distributors and official dealers. Mikhail Fedorenko also talked about possible scenarios of regulating relations in the field of sales and after-sales services of cars.

He emphasised that “in course of inspections we found that that dealers set unreasonably high prices for spare parts and after-sales service of automobiles under warranty in comparison with prices for the same spare parts and services on comparable markets.

A representative of “Vegas Lex” legal firm, Anatoly Petrykin made a presentation highlighting foreing practices of antimonopoly control over after-sale car service, gave examples of antimonopoly control in the Russian Federation in other fields and outlined possible avenues to prevent economic entities violating the antimonopoly law.

More than 20 Council members took part in the discussion, many of them stating how essential it would be to draft specialised legislation. Nearly all Council Members recognised particular problems in the field in question and emphasised importance of resolving them.

Summing up the meeting, members of the Expert Council decided to form a Working Group that would preliminary determine the main areas of work of the Expert Council so in the future the Council can carry out work on each of the proposed areas.