OREANDA-NEWS. February 13, 2013. Belgorod Regional Arbitration Court upheld the decision of the Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Belgorod Region (Belgorod OFAS Russia) on violating the antimonopoly law when offering land plots for lease, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The Authority of the Stary Oskol Town District leased land plots for constructing fuel-filling stations without competitive bidding although there were several economic entities pretending to a right of concluding a contract for leasing a land plot.

Earlier Belgorod OFAS Russia received a petition from an independent supplier of oil products - “Oskolneftesnab” OJSC that the Authority of the Stary Oskol Town District violated the antimonopoly law. The petition stated that “Oskolneftesnab” OJSC had asked the Authority to allocate two land plots for constructing a fuel-filling station. The Authority refused to provide land plots on the grounds that earlier it had approved providing land plots to another person - “Lukoil-Nizhnevolzhskproduct” Ltd. included in a vertically-integrated oil company.

The Commission of Belgorod OFAS Russia found that the Authority of the Stary Oskol Town District of the Belgorod Region violated Part 1 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”, which led to eliminating competition on the market of land plot sales.

The Authority of the Stary Oskol Town District disagreed with the conclusions of the Commission and filed a lawsuit to the Arbitration Court to invalidate the decision of Belgorod OFAS Russia. Belgorod Regional Arbitration Court fully dismissed the claim.