OREANDA-NEWS. February 20, 2012. At an extended Collegium of FAS Russia, that took place at the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (RAPA), the Head of FAS Legal Department Sergey Pouzyrevsky discussed the goals towards enforcement of the new antimonopoly law – “the third antimonopoly law”, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

First of all, Mr. Pouzyrevsky talked about the criteria of assessment of monopolistically high price: exchange prices, retrospective analysis and global price indicators.

Mr. Pouzyrevsky pointed out that the main changes introduced by “the third antimonopoly law” are aimed at clarifying requirements to anticompetitive agreements and concerted actions as well as formalizing the right of the Government of the Russian Federation to determine the rules of non-discriminatory access to infrastructure facilities on the markets of natural monopolies, as well as clarifying the procedures for state control over economic concentration and the procedures for investigating cases on violating the antimonopoly law.

Another specific feature of “the third antimonopoly law” is introduction of the “warning” mechanism that relieves administrative liability if a “warning” is executed. The new law also clarifies criminal liability for violating the antimonopoly law.

“Now “the third antimonopoly law” allows the antimonopoly authority to send warnings to executive officers of economic entities who make public statements about intended conduct on the market if such conduct can lead to violating the antimonopoly law”, commented Sergey Pouzyrevsky.

The audience was especially interested in further development of the antimonopoly law, which the speaker also covered.

Sergey Pouzyrevsky pointed out that some amendments require additional discussions, for instance:

- formalizing the mechanism of approving and publishing the rules of trading practice for economic entities that have dominant position;

- clarifying the list of prohibitions applied to “vertical” agreement;

- determining specifics of control over economic concentration between holders of natural monopolies;

- improving the mechanism of granting state and municipal preferences;

- clarifying the grounds for initiating criminal cases under Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;

- formulating a legal definition of the mechanism of cooperation between the antimonopoly bodies and law enforcement bodies to carry out operational-investigative activities upon the facts of violating the antimonopoly law.

“With adopting “the third antimonopoly law”, the reform on improving the antimonopoly law is completed. Enforcement of the package will allow incorporating the best foreign practices of suppressing cartels, monopolistic activities and unfair competition in the system of antimonopoly regulation. Efficient antimonopoly law is the guarantee of successful development of Russian economy”, stated the Head of FAS Legal Department Sergey Pouzyrevsky.