MANUFACTURER OF FLOOR COVERINGS TARKETT RUS PAID ANTIMONOPOLY FINES OF 290 MILLION RUBLES

The funds have already been transferred to the budget of the Russian Federation

Earlier, the FAS Russia analyzed the activities of TARKETT RUS JSC. The FAS Russia revealed that the company had included in contracts with distributors a prohibition on the sale of linoleum from other manufacturers. The ban applied only to linoleum, i.e. the commodity market on which the dominant position of TARKETT RUS JSC was set. There were no similar conditions in other flooring markets where the company operated but did not hold a dominant position.

The company also coordinated economic activities of retail stores participating in the bonus program. Payment of bonuses depended on the breadth of representation and the volume of sales of linoleum produced by TARKETT RUS JSC relative to linoleum of competitors.

The FAS Russia recognized the company as having violated the antimonopoly legislation.*

The FAS Russia issued an order to the company to stop the violation and ensure competition, and imposed fines in the amount of 286,857,227 rubles for abuse of a dominant position and 3,000,000 rubles for coordinating economic activities. The legality of decisions of the FAS Russia was upheld by the courts of three instances.

*Paragraph 9 of Part 1 of Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition, Part 5 of Article 11 of the Law on Protection of Competition