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ART DE LEX Offers Tariff Counseling

ART DE LEX has begun to offer its clients a number of new services in the field of pricing, tariff regulation, and economic analysis.

In the last two years, especially after the signing of Presidential Order No. 373, on 21 July 2015, regarding n the transfer of the functions of the Federal Tariff Service of Russia to FAS Russia, the powers of FAS Russia have expanded significantly. To ensure the balance of interests of both the regulated economic entities and the consumers of their services, the antimonopoly authority is empowered to conduct legal and economic assessments of the costs that regulated organizations claim as well as the tariff decisions of regulatory bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

As part of the consolidation of antimonopoly and tariff regulation measures, economic entities need to constantly improve their economic and financial analyses, and most important, they need comprehensive studies of real market costs and pricing methods.

For such industries as energy, transport, housing and communal services, communications, as well as the fuel and energy market, the economic validity of prices or tariffs has a key impact on the social sphere and the development of the economy of the territorial entities of the Russian Federation.

In some cases and for certain companies, the amount of economically justifiable costs incurred in connection with the implementation of regulated activities can reach billions of rubles, and the lack of unified approaches to the formation and justification of tariffs is a significant legal uncertainty that entails enormous property risks for business entities.

The ART DE LEX antimonopoly practice includes a team of highly qualified specialists with considerable experience dealing with antimonopoly bodies, large corporations, and leading law firms. A number of lawyers have a second degree in the field of economics, which is part of what makes ART DE LEX unique.

With Kirill Dozmarov, the lawyer who heads the Antitrust Practice Group and who has an economics degree, and Tatyana Basova, the firm’s senior economist who previously led the Department for Regulation over the Electric Power Industry of FAS Russia, ART DE LEX offers expanded opportunities for providing economic analysis, independent examinations of the costs regulated entities claim when reporting to tariff authorities, and new tariff proposals, such as those needed in the energy sector.

By synthesizing jurisprudence and economics, ART DE LEX formulates new standards for advisory services in the field of antimonopoly and tariff regulation.

Beginning in 2018, economic and pricing analysis as well as tariff and antimonopoly regulation expertise now complement the antimonopoly services of ART DE LEX.

MAIN SERVICES

• expert opinions on cost optimization in regulated and unregulated markets;
• costs analysis and possible approaches to pricing;
• completion of tariff applications, including justification materials;
• support for disclosing information about regulated activities, in accordance with legislative requirements;
• submission of tariff applications and support for open tariff business;
• advising clients and defending tariff applications before regulatory bodies and before FAS Russia.

The list of services above is the minimum required for representing and defending a standard case before FAS Russia for establishing or changing a tariff.

ADDITIONAL SERVICES AND CONSULTING

ART DE LEX offers clients even more comprehensive services in the area of tariff counseling:

• comprehensive economic and antimonopoly audits of existing pricing policies and practices in unregulated markets, along with the development and harmonization of such policies with antitrust authorities;
• expert consulting on pricing and on interactions with regulatory bodies, including the preparation of responses to requests for information;
• skillful protection of the interests of clients who are undergoing investigations and who are dealing with cases involving violations of antimonopoly legislation, such as the establishment of monopolistically high prices or the violation of the pricing procedures;
• comprehensive preparation and filing of applications with the antimonopoly authority for establishing tariffs or for modifying previously approved tariffs as well as the preparation of objections regarding the amount of an approved tariff;
• effective protection of the interests of regulated entities and consumers in court when challenging the decisions of regulatory bodies on the application, introduction, and modification of tariffs or when responding to decisions reached during pre-trial dispute resolution procedures;
• thorough evaluation of reports on the state of competition in commodity markets that the antimonopoly authorities have prepared.

In addition to offering these new advisory products to its customers, ART DE LEX also plans to launch a series of specialized programs in its new conference venue on Pokrovsky Boulevard, 4/17. These will include training courses, seminars, and master classes on pricing in regulated spheres.