APPEAL COURT SUPPORTED FAS AGAINST A CARTEL FORMED BY DAGESTAN PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES
The 9th Arbitration Appeal Court in Moscow confirmed legitimacy of FAS decision. FAS estimates that the cartel revenue exceeded 2 billion RUB
In February 2019, FAS found that “Regionapharm” Ltd., “Globalmedtekh” Ltd., “Dagmedtekhnika” Ltd., “Medpharmsnab” Ltd. maintained prices at auctions for supplying drugs and medical products to medical facilities and the Ministry of Healthcare of the Dagestan Republic in 2015 - 2018.
FAS also concluded that the companies - cartel members and the Ministry of Healthcare of the Dagestan Republic, “Republican Oncology Early Treatment Clinic” State Budgetary Establishment of the Dagestan Republic concluded an anticompetitive agreement between the ordering party and bidders (Clause 1 Part 1 Article 17 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”).
The cartel members are held administratively liable. The total administrative fines exceeded 116 million RUB.
Criminal proceedings are opened against a former Minister of Healthcare of the Dagestan Republic and cartel members.
Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department, Andrey Tenishev, emphasized: “Cartels and collusions with government customers in the healthcare sector damage consumers as well as the state. One the one hand, they threaten health of the population since cartel members and public customers in such cases worry only about their self-interests rather than the quality of medicinal drugs and supplying everything necessary to medical facilities. On the other, there is no competition at auctions, which results in inefficient allocation so budgetary funds”.