THE FAS RUSSIA HAS INITIATED CASE AGAINST YANDEX

The company has not fulfilled the warning of the FAS Russia on termination of discriminatory conditions in the market of web search*

On February 20, 2021 the FAS Russia issued a warning to Yandex LLC, according to which the organization had a deadline of April 1, 2021 to ensure equal conditions for the demonstration of the services on the pages of search engines, including market participants and competitors of the Yandex group. However, the warning was not executed.

According to the FAS Russia, Yandex LLC provides the services of the Yandex group with preferential opportunities to promote (attract the attention of users) services in the Yandex search engine. Such actions may lead to the creation of discriminatory conditions for activities in the commodity markets adjacent to the search.

As part of the consideration of the case, the FAS Russia will investigate possible anticompetitive practices for promoting the services of the Yandex group in search results, as well as assess the consequences that such practices have led to (could lead to).

In case of establishing the fact of violation and restriction of competition from the actions of Yandex LLC, the company may be imposed with a turnover-based fine from the amount of revenue in the market.* *

* Signs of violation of the Paragraph 8 of the Part 1 of the Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition

** In accordance with the Article 14.31 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation