FAS: the Federal Penitentiary Service violated the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”

The Federal Penitentiary Service restricted competition selling goods for the need of the suspects and the accused in Moscow pretrial detention centres.

Since autumn 2013 the Federal Penitentiary Service  (FPS) sent several telegrams and letters to Heads of regional FPS bodies requesting to conclude contracts between subordinate penitentiary facilities and “Kaluzhskoe” Federal State Unitary Enterprise on transferring based on gratis use of non-residential facilities, formalized upon the rights of operative management on the basis of operational managements over FPS bodies and FPS federal state unitary enterprise, as well as the requirements to reach agreements on cooperation between pretrial detention centres and “Kaluzhskoe” and exercise trading activity exclusively through “Kaluzhskoe”.

FPS actions resulted in changed to the system of selling for the needs of the suspects and accused, formalizing possibility to sell goods only by “Kaluzhskoe”.

Deputy Head of FAS Department for Control over Social Sphere and Trade, Yekaterina Uryupina, pointed out: “In 2016, after an unsuccessful appeal of the FAS warning at Court, the case against the Federal Penitentiary Service was reopened upon signs of competition restriction. According to a decision of the FAS Commission, the Federal Penitentiary Service, that restricted competition in selling goods for the needs of the suspects and accused in pretrial isolators in Moscow, must eliminate violations of the interpreter should elimination violations of the antimonopoly law, namely - Part1 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”.