OREANDA-NEWS. April 03, 2012. The Federal Arbitration Court of the Povolzhie District (Kazan) reversed the rulings of the Courts of two instances and remanded the case against “Caustic” OJSC (of Volgograd), “Khloraktiv” CJSC, “Khimprom” OJSC (of Volgograd), “Khimprom” OJSC (of Novocherkassk), “Bekborn” Ltd., “RusTrade” Ltd., the group of persons of “Sibur” Ltd., “Sibur Holding” CJSC, Sibur-Neftekhim” OJSC and the group of persons of ““Khimprom” Trading House” Ltd., “Khimprom” Production Association” Ltd. (of Kemerovo) for reconsideration, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

Earlier the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) found that the companies violated Clauses 1 and 3 Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” by concluding and taking part in an agreement that resulted or could have resulted in fixing prices and dividing the market of liquid chlorine in containers according to the volume of sales and composition of buyers.

The case was initiated upon obtaining documents and information in course of dawn raids involving law enforcement bodies. The FAS Commission established that a hard core cartel operated on the market for 3.5 years, dividing the market by the volume of sales and composition of buyers.

In course of the investigation, the “Sibur” group of companies filed a leniency petition.

“Caustic” OJSC and “Khimprom” OJSC challenged the FAS decision at Court.

Volgograd Regional Arbitration Court and the 12th Arbitration Appeal Court (Saratov) ruled the FAS decision unlawful. The Federal Arbitration Court of the Povolzhie District (Kazan) remanded a case for reconsideration.

“The Courts of First and Second Instances presumed that available evidence on the case did not confirm the fact of the agreement. The Court rulings were based only on respondents’ arguments. A proper legal evaluation was not given to the evidence on file, including the confession of the “Sibur” group of companies. Considerable procedural irregularities took place: the rulings were passed regarding all respondents to the case (including the “Sibur” group of companies that admitted committing the violation), although only two participants of the agreement filed the complaints”, commented the Head of FAS Cartel Department, Alexander Kinyov.