OREANDA-NEWS. March 27, 2013. Delegation of Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (hereinafter – FAS Russia) headed by Andrey Tsarikovskiy, Stats-Secretary-Deputy Head of FAS Russia has visited Norwegian Competition Authority.

The delegation of FAS Russia conducted consultations with representatives of Norwegian Competition Authority, Directorate of Fisheries, Norwegian food safety Authority, Norwegian Seafood Council, and also Norwegian companies engaged in hatching, breeding and seafood processing.

The objective of consultations was to discuss some issues concerning overall regulations of the fishing industry as well as competition law more specifically. Besides that, there were discussions on issues relating to the deliveries of Norwegian salmon and trout to Russia pertaining to ongoing investigations by FAS Russia.

“We were trying to persuade our Norwegian colleagues and representatives of Norwegian fishing industry that Russia is interested in fair trade with Norway based on legal rules. And as representatives of Competition Authority we won’t accept any artificial constraints and administrative barriers” – Andrey Tsarikovskiy, Stats-Secretary-Deputy Head of FAS Russia said.

As the result of the meetings hosted by the Norwegian Competition Authority and FAS Russia, an understanding was reached that a bilateral document that will identify main goals and instruments of cooperation between two competition Authorities can be very fruitful to facilitate future cooperation and contact between the authorities.

According to Alexander Kinev, Head of Anti-Cartel Department of FAS Russia, some new materials and information that could help to impart a fresh impulse to the investigation were gained during the visit to Norway.

Reference:

On 23 October 2013 FAS Russia initiated proceedings against ZAO “Russian Fish Company”, ZAO “Atlant Pacific” group of persons composed of ZAO “ITA Nord Company” and ZAO “SK Retail” upon the signs of violating the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” – Cartel on market sharing.

The initiated proceedings were based on materials gained during inspections of suppliers of Norwegian salmon and trout to Russia conducted by FAS Russia since March to June 2012.

FAS Russia revealed that “ZAO “Russian Fish Company”, ZAO “Atlant Pacific” and “Nord Company” concluded an anti-competitive agreement “On strategic partnership” and divided Norwegian seafood suppliers among each other.

According to mentioned agreement Norwegian seafood suppliers have lost the right to deliver their products to any other Russian vendors except “ZAO “Russian Fish Company”, ZAO “Atlant Pacific” and “Nord Company”.