OREANDA-NEWS. On 22nd October 2013, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) initiated a case against the Moscow Government and the Moscow Department for Housing& Utilities Services and Public Amenities for possible violation of the antimonopoly law on the market of disposal of solid household waste and bilk trash.

Since 1st January 2013, the South-West Administrative District of Moscow is under an experiment for system wide trash collection including separate collection, transportation, disinfection and partial processing. The Moscow Government decided to extend the experiment in 2014 to four more administrative districts of Moscow: North, North-East, South-East, and West.

On 3rd October 2013, four tenders were announced for providing services for treatment of solid household waste and bulk trash in four administrative districts for the total sum around 81 billion RUB.

It is planned that based on the tender outcomes, the government contracts will be concluded for 15 years, which considerably increases their original price. To take part in the tenders, an economic entity will have to pay 3-4 billion RUB as a security, which, in the FAS opinion, is a colossal barrier to participating in the tenders.

The Moscow Government could have violated the antimonopoly law by issuing and approving the Decree to announce four tenders for providing services for treatment solid household waste and bulk trash (in violation of Part 1 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”). The Moscow Department for Housing& Utilities Services and Public Amenities potentially violated the law by approving the tender documentation (violations of Part 1 Article 15 and Article 17 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”).