FAS reformed the antimonopoly law

On 5 January 2015, the “forth antimonopoly package” came into force.  

 In the past several years the expert and business communities had several rounds of discussions on the draft law.

 The law was drafted on the basis of the Road Map for Developing Competition and Improving the Antimonopoly Policy as well as recommendations issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

 The amendments to the “forth antimonopoly package” are aimed at clarifying the procedure for investigating cases on violations of the antimonopoly law, expanding the institutions of warnings and admonitions to unfair competition, other forms of abusing dominance and actions by the authorities.

 The law abolishes the Register of persons with over 35% market shares.  According to the Antimonopoly Service, the Register not only imposed significant restrictions on exercising civil rights but also provided for some additional obligations.

 The law also entitles the Government of the Russian Federation to determine the Rules for non-discriminatory access to the goods for the economic entities with over 70% market shares if such companies violated the antimonopoly law.

A new Chapter on unfair competition is added to the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”. The new provisions are drafted factoring in judicial practice and the best foreign practices.

 The Central FAS Office is assigned the powers to review decisions and determinations issued by regional FAS Offices should they breach uniformity of interpreting and applying the antimonopoly law. To achieve these objectives, an appeals instance was formed and is already functional.

 “I believe that adopting the “forth antimonopoly package” is an important but not the only element of efficient antimonopoly policy in Russia. Another essential element is enforcement practice of the adopted norms by businessmen, antimonopoly bodies and judges”, emphasized Deputy Head of FAS Sergey Puzyrevsky.