OREANDA-NEWS. October 05, 2012. Kaliningrad Regional Arbitration Court supported the decision of the Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Kaliningrad Region (Kaliningrad OFAS Russia) that executive bodies of the Kaliningrad region were engaged in concerted actions violating the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” by financing coverage of activities of the regional Government in mass media through the “Centre of Social Advertising and Information Technologies” , reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

In March 2012, Kaliningrad OFAS Russia verified the information published at “Novy Kaliningrad.Ru” Internet-portal under the following heading: “The Government allocated 9.4million Rubles for its own PR”. OFAS initiated a case upon some signs of violating the antimonopoly law.

The Commission of the antimonopoly body found that the regional Government violated Part 1 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” (competition-restricting acts and actions). The Decree “On Introducing Amendments to the Target Programme of the Kaliningrad Region “Developing Culture in the Kaliningrad Region (2007-2013)” grants 30,690,000 Rubles to the “Centre of Social Advertising and Information Technologies” State Autonomous Institution of the Kaliningrad Region on a sole source basis as a subsidy for organizing competitive bidding.

On 2nd May 2012, the Commission of Kaliningrad OFAS Russia again found that the Government of the Kaliningrad region violated Part 1 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”. The Decree “On Introducing Amendments to the Target Programme of the Kaliningrad Region “Developing Culture in the Kaliningrad Region (2007-2013)” has a provision to grant 20,690,000 Rubles to the “Centre of Social Advertising and Information Technologies” on a sole source basis as a subsidy for coverage of various areas of the Government activity.

In course of the antimonopoly investigation, OFAS also proved violations of Article 16 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” (competition-restricting agreements of the authorities) committed by the Agency of the Key Budget-Spending Unit of the Kaliningrad region; the Agency on Internal Policy and Cooperation with Non-Commercial Organizations; and the “Centre of Social Advertising and Information Technologies” State Autonomous Institution that concluded an agreement to grant a subsidy from the regional budget to the state autonomous institution for highlighting the work of the regional Government in the media.

Implementing the agreement, the “Centre of Social Advertising and Information Technologies” as the ordering party did not employ competitive bidding procedures, and at its own discretion concluded contracts with various commercial organizations providing mass media services.

“Selecting executors for state procurement without competitive procedures prevents development of competition”, commented the Head of Kaliningrad OFAS Russia, Olga Bobrova.

The regional Government disagreed with the conclusions of Kaliningrad OFAS Russia and filed a claim to Kaliningrad Regional Arbitration Court.

On 26th September 2012, the Arbitration Court upheld both decision of Kaliningrad OFAS Russia and dismissed the claim of the regional Government.