OREANDA-NEWS. April 04, 2012. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) found that the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Rosgidromet) had unlawfully assigned the functions of the federal executive body to institutions within its jurisdiction, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The case was initiated upon the findings of an inspection. The FAS Commission established that Rosgidromet assigned controlling and supervisory powers (to verify whether licensees observe licensing standards) to institutions within its jurisdiction license requirements and conditions. However, these institutions exercise entrepreneurial activities on the same goods market (providing information about the state of the environment to consumers).

FAS found that Rosgidromet violated Part 3 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”.

In course of the case investigation, Rosgidromet voluntarily eliminated the antimonopoly violation by introducing relevant amendments to the Statutes of the institutions within its jurisdiction, excluding from them the functions of the body responsible for government control and supervision.

“Prohibiting subordinate organizations of Rosgidromet to exercise controlling and supervisory functions puts such institutions in equal competitive conditions with other economic entities, eliminating unlawful advantages that such institutions have”, stated Stats-Secretary, Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsarikovskiy.

Reference:

Part 3 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” prohibits assigning functions and rights of federal executive bodies to economic entities, including the functions and rights of government control and supervision.

The prohibition is aimed at preventing possible abuses on the market, when the same person directly participates in business relationships and is assigned powers with regard to other market participants.