APPEAL CONFIRMED LEGITIMACY OF A FINE IMPOSED UPON A MEMBER OF A “MEDICAL” CARTEL
The company must pay an administrative fine that exceeds 35 million RUB
On 20 February 2020, the 9th Arbitration Appeal Court confirmed the reasonableness of holding “Dagmedtechnika” Ltd. liable for bid-rigging collusion.
In February 2019, FAS found that “Regionpharma” Ltd., “Globalmedtekh” Ltd., “Dagmedtechnika” Ltd., “Medpharmasnab” Ltd. had maintained prices at auctions for supplying medicinal drugs and medical products for medical facilities and the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Dagestan in 2015 - 2018.
According to FAS, the overall income of the cartel exceeded 2 billion RUB.
The cartel participants are held administratively liable. The total fines reached over 250 million RUB.
FAS found that the cartel members, the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Dagestan, and the “Republican Oncology Early Treatment Clinic” State Budgetary Institution of the Republic of Dagestan concluded an anticompetitive agreement between the customer and auction bidders.
Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department Andrey Tenishev pointed out: “Healthcare still remains one of the most cartelized sectors in Russia, anticompetitive agreements practically “eat” additional budgetary funds that the government allocates for supplying the necessary drugs to patients. I am confident that suppressing the anticompetitive agreement between Dagestan pharmaceutical companies and the regional Ministry of Healthcare will benefit the Dagestan population”.