FAS exposed signs of discriminatory conditions in the actions of the largest manufacturer of inflatable life rafts in the world

The Antimonopoly Service issued a warning to “UZEMIK” JSC to stop actions that create discriminatory conditions in the course of services for training and certifying personnel of inflatable device stations [1].

Having analyzed the state of competition on the market of certification services (licenses, authorization) for inflatable device stations - the rights of inspecting and maintenance support of PSN-MK inflatable life rafts, FAS established that “UZEMIK” has the dominant position on the market with the 100% share.

At the same time, “UZEMIK” JSC includes provisions in the contracts for its services with some counteragents, obligating to acquire certified inflatable life raft stations manufactured by “UZEMIK” JSC and set the sale targets for survival equipment and achieve them. Failure to execute the above contract provisions forms the grounds to terminate them.

Acquiring inflatable life raft stations and, moreover, selling them on the market is not economically or technologically related to certification services.

Therefore, “UZEMIK” JSC set different conditions for certification services, which restricts competition on the markets by creating discriminatory conditions for particular consumers.

Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov pointed out:  “To suppress actions of “UZEMIK” JSC leading to discriminatory conditions, FAS issued a warning to “UZEMIK” JSC to stop them. The company must send offers to the relevant consumers that the need to acquire inflatable life rafts from “UZEMIK” JSC” is excluded from the contracts for certifying inflatable device stations and the services for personnel training and certification”.

[1]  A violation of Clause 8 Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”