RUSSIA'S FIRST ANTIMONOPOLY CARTEL CASE ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE

Solid-Commodity Markets JSC and A-OIL LLC were found guilty of entering into a cartel agreement on the exchange trading of petroleum products in 2018[1]

The significance of the case for antimonopoly and judicial practice was presented by the Chairman of the Commission for case consideration, State Secretary-Deputy Head of the FAS Russia Andrey Tsarikovskiy.

“Both for us and for the courts, the attempt to transfer the antimonopoly process to the court prior to the decision on the case has become a precedent. One of the companies challenged the order on initiating the case and the decision on its setting, and it was the first time when such requirements were met in two instances. The litigation lasted for more than a year, but we managed to prove the absolute legality of our actions in cassation, and we continued to consider the antimonopoly case,” he said.

We remind that the case was initiated in February 2019, but Solid-Commodity Markets JSCchallenged the authority of the Antimonopoly body to control price collusions at stock exchanges. The Arbitration court of the Moscow district recognized the legality of the actions of the Antimonopoly authority and the legality of the order of the FAS Russia and the decision on the setting of the case for hearing in June 2020.

“The FAS Russia continued the antimonopoly process and was able to thoroughly review all aspects of the case and make an informed decision. Thus, it was found that the actions of traders in 2018 affected the growth of prices for petroleum products on the exchange and could lead to an increase in prices for petroleum products throughout the country, since prices on the exchange are indicative for the market,” Andrey Tsarikovsky explained.

“Now the largest Russian oil traders face a fine of up to 15% of the market turnover, and these are hundreds of millions of rubles. In addition, a criminal case is being investigated against them on the fact of the cartel and manipulation of gasoline prices,” he added.

According to the Deputy Head of the FAS Russia, the decision of the service has a precedent value: “We have established antimonopoly control over exchange trading, and the market has been given a signal that competitors cannot agree on price increases not only in retail markets, but also on the exchange – it entails serious antimonopoly and criminal risks.”

Also, as part of the investigation of the circumstances of the case, the service and the St. Petersburg International Commodity Exchange conducted a lot of work to increase the transparency of trading and prevent cartel agreements.

[1] Violation of pp.1,2 part 1, article 11 of the Law on Protection of Competition