“Mala per se” will be proved

Future institutional and social stigmatization of cartels and evolution of proving them was discussed at the VIII Annual Conference on “Antimonopoly Regulation in Russia”.

“The society is increasingly focusing on figures”, pointed out Stats-Secretary, Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsarikovskiy, talking about use of economic, statistical and mathematical methods of exposing and proving cartels. “The style of thinking and a course of actions of violators are changing. Storing documents has long become an archaism: information is securely hidden and often cannot serve as procedural evidence at Court”.

For this reason, economic analysis is applied as one of the main method of proving violations. “We are the first in the global practice in this field. FAS has made important achievements in conduct models”, emphasized Deputy Head of the antimonopoly authority.

He added that FAS managed to create a working model for proving the so-called “third type cartels” – bid-rigging.

Overall, the number cases opened by FAS against cartels and anticompetitive agreements exceeds 600 cases per year. Before liberalizing the antimonopoly law, the annual fines imposed upon cartels reached 3 billion RUB; and more than 80% of cartels concern bid-rigging.

Prohibiting cartels “mala per se” is a strategic objective of the antimonopoly authority. The society should find it the same “mala per se” as corruption and criminality.

So far, moral condemnation of cartels has not been rooted in public conscience yet and many still justifies cartels, considering it “a form of cooperation”.  In the opinion of Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department Andrey Tenishev, a system of deterring factors should be developed: moral deterrence, legislative bans, technological barriers, inevitability of punishment and its severity.

“Punishment should be severe, fair and inevitable; and ensuring it is an objective of the state”, believes Andrey Tenishev. “What is more valuable, undoubtedly, when participation in cartels is prevented by moral values in public conscience and high corporate culture rather than a fear of punishment”.