FAS DRAFTED THE GUIDELINES ON EXPOSING AND INVESTIGATING CARTELS

The Guidelines are designed to help with correct qualification of such acts and resolve the issues emerging in the course of cartel investigation

On 27 February 2020, the Antimonopoly Club held a regular meeting in Moscow organized by the “Competition and Law” Journal. Its participants discussed, for example, the main goals and objectives of the 2019–2023 Inter-Departmental Programme for Exposing and Suppressing Cartels and Other Competition-Restricting Agreements, as well as the Guidelines, devised to execute the Programme, as to how to organize collaboration between FAS and the law enforcement bodies on exposure and investigation of offences under Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Deputy Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department Anton Teslenko highlighted the main objectives of the Inter-Departmental Programme:

• Organizing interaction with the law enforcement bodies in exposing and proving cartels;
• Increasing efficiency of enforcement proceedings on the cases for charging  fines for antimonopoly violations;
• Decreasing the number of antimonopoly cases with less than 50 million RUB revenue of cartel participants;
• Preventing and prophylactics of antimonopoly violations.

Under the frame of the programme, FAS has drafted the Guidelines for the law enforcement bodies on exposing and investigating cartels.

The Guidelines should not be taken as a binding instructions manual for investigators, assured the speaker. In his opinion, the Guidelines summarize the multi-year practice of investigating cartel cases and experience of interaction between the antimonopoly and law enforcement bodies in exposing cartels.

“The Guidelines are designed to help with correct qualification of such acts and resolve the issues emerging in the course of cartel investigation. For example, defining and delineating a procedural status of an officer of the antimonopoly body, involved in a case, who, depending on a situation, can act as a witness to the case, or an expert with special knowledge and skills”, emphasized Anton Teslenko.