The fourth antitrust legislative package

The “Universal Portal,” the legislative website of the Russian Federation, includes newly proposed amendments to the Fourth Antitrust Legislative Package. Highlights of the legislation include the following:

The amendments specify a minimum of nine additional types of unfair competition, including defamation; misrepresentation; abuse of intellectual property; exploiting the reputation of another business; and misuse of commercial secrets.

The proposals specify that a product has a dominant position only when it has 35 percent or more of the market, with certain exemptions.

Additional prohibited acts during competitive bidding are a part of the legislation, such as any sort of agreement with a bidder that would restrict competition or provide preferential conditions.

Internal appeals within the Federal Antimonopoly Service would involve an appellate body with the ability to review the decisions of territorial antitrust authorities.

Article 11 of the Federal Competition Support Law on joint activity agreements would not apply to agreements antitrust bodies previously approved.

A vertical agreement would be permissible if the total market share it creates does not exceed 5 percent.

The draft legislation establishes a minimum administrative penalty for an agreement or action that violates antitrust laws.

In March, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation published a negative regulatory impact assessment of the proposed amendments. In March and April, the legal and business communities have been discussing the proposals, and two conferences about the draft legislation involved Yaroslav Kulik and Kirill Dozmarov from ART DE LEX.

A special client bulletin from ART DE LEX includes more information about the fourth antitrust legislative package. See http://artdelex.ru/eng/reviews/client-bulletin-67312.

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