OREANDA-NEWS. February 06, 2012. The Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Primorie Region (Primorie OFAS Russia) pronounced that “Vladivostok International Airport” OJSC had unlawfully fixed monopolistically high prices (tariffs) for supplying fuel to aircrafts in 2008 (a violation of Clause 1 Part 1 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”), reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The company increased the tariff for fuel supply from 1,149 Rubles to 1,286 Rubles per ton (w/o VAT) – by 11.9%. These costs incurred by aircrafts constitute a significant portion of airfare.

Under Article 14.31 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations, Primorie OFAS Russia fined “Vladivostok International Airport” OJSC 300,000 Rubles. The company paid the fine four days after OFAS issued the determination.

Primorie OFAS Russia already considered a similar case about abusing market dominance by “Vladivostok International Airport” OJSC in the part of fixing excessive fees for the services of supplying fuel to aircrafts.

In 2009, the company fixed monopolistically high price for this service at 1543.00 Rubles per ton, which exceeds the “real” price by 249.16 Rubles or by 19.26%.

Primorie OFAS Russia issued a determination to “Vladivostok International Airport” OJSC to stop violating the antimonopoly law and fined the company over 3 million Rubles.

“Vladivostok International Airport” OJSC fined a lawsuit challenging the decision of the antimonopoly body to impose an administrative fine for abusing market dominance. The courts pronounced legitimacy of Primorie OFAS Russia. On 16th January 2012, the ruling of the 5th Arbitration Appeal Court of the Primorie Region came into force, reducing the fine upon the company from three million Rubles to one million Rubles.

According to the Head of FAS Department for Transport and Communications, Dmitry Routenberg, “such violations have been quite frequent in the practice of refueling complexes. In 2008-2010 the antimonopoly bodies considered over 80 cases on violating the antimonopoly law on the markets of aviation fuel and services for aviation fuel supply”. “The government of the Russian Federation made a decision to introduce state regulation regarding fuel-supplying services”, commented Mr. Routenberg.