OREANDA-NEWS. October 30, 2014. Last week two Arbitration Courts supported the position of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) in its disputes with dealers of “Argus-Spektr” CJSC.

Moscow District Arbitration Court upheld the judicial acts of the Court of First Instance and the Appeal Court and dismissed the claim of “SM-Yug” Ltd. to invalidate the 300,000 RUB fine for failure to submit information upon a request of the antimonopoly authority (Part 5 Article 19.8 of the Code on Administrative Violations)*.

On 23rd October 2014, the 9th Arbitration Appeal Court upheld the judgment of Moscow Arbitration Court and dismissed the claim of “SPM-26” Ltd. to invalidate the 300,000 RUB fine for failure to submit information upon a request of the antimonopoly authority (Part 5 Article 19.8 of the Code on Administrative Violations)*.

On 19th September 2014, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) found that “Argus-Spektr” CJSC and its 68 dealers violated Clause 1 Part 2 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” that prohibits “vertical” agreements**. At the stage of inspections conducted prior to initiating an antimonopoly case, Argus-Spektr” CJSC and some its dealers refused to submit information upon FAS requests.

Particularly, in response to a FAS request “SM-Yug” Ltd. demanded an explanation, for which purposes and due to what circumstances the information was requested. “SPM-26” Ltd. also refused to submit information upon a FAS request, referring to business secrets.

The Court rulings confirmed that the requests by the antimonopoly authority were formed in accord with the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” and must be executed. FAS powers to request information also apply to the information that constitutes commercial secrets.

“The Court rulings once again confirm legitimacy of FAS requests to submit information in the course of inspections. At the same time, they clearly demonstrate the groundlessness of the attempts to hamper investigations of antimonopoly violations. The tactics chosen by “Argus-Spektr” CJSC and some of its dealers did not prevent the antimonopoly authority to prove a violation of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” and make the decisions accordingly. The only result of such actions was imposing administrative fines upon the violators and the judicial costs incurred through the attempts to appeal them”, pointed out the Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department, Andrey Tenischev.

Reference:

* Under Part 5 Article 19.8 of the Code on Administrative Violations, failure or late submission to the federal antimonopoly body <…> data (information) provided for by the antimonopoly law of the Russian Federation, particularly, failure or late submission of data (information) upon a request by the above bodies <…> is punishable by and administrative fine upon legal entities form 50,000 to 500,000 RUB.

** Clause 1 Part 2 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” prohibits “vertical” agreements between economic entities if such agreements lead or can lead to fixing resale prices except when sellers fix the maximum resale price for buyers.