CASSATION COURT CONFIRMED LEGITIMACY OF THE FAS DECISION REGARDING SUPPLIERS FOR THE NEEDS OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

The auction bidders for supplies of isolation escape hoods formed a cartel enabling “Navigator-T” Ltd. to win with the contract sum exceeding 300 million RUB

On 16 January 2018, the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District confirmed legitimacy of the FAS decision regarding “Navigator-T” Ltd., “Tambovmash” JSC, “All-Russian Voluntary Fire-Fighters Association” National NGO, “Khimcomplektzaschita” CJSC and “Strong Group” Ltd. The Courts of two lower instances also supported the position of the antimonopoly body.

In 2014, the Ministry of Interior organized an electronic auction for supplies of isolation escape hoods. The defendants concluded an anticompetitive agreement between themselves in order to overrate the initial (maximum) contract price and ensure that “Navigator-T” Ltd. would win the auction, which constitutes a violation of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” (Clause 2 Part 1 Article 11). The contract sum exceeds 300 million RUB.

All companies are held administratively liable. The total sum of the administrative fines imposed upon the companies was over 30 million RUB.

Deputy Head of FAS Maxim Ovchinnikov emphasized: “Anticompetitive auction agreements not only cause significant losses to the federal budget, but also restrict significantly development of the system of public procurement in Russia. It is impossible to counter them without supporting decisions of the antimonopoly bodies by the judicial system”.