RF Supreme Court Presidium publishes review of precedents in antitrust cases

16 March 2016 the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation approved a review of precedents in antitrust and related administrative cases (hereinafter referred to as the review).

The aforementioned review is based on major legal precedents from the period between 2012 and 2015 and contains the statistics of adjudications by courts at all instances in antitrust and administrative cases, as well as about a score of bright-line rules developed during the said period.
The review covers challenges to rulings by antitrust authorities, and specifically challenges to audit certificates, auditing orders and antitrust cease and desist orders, and jurisdiction over challenges to actions (omissions) and rulings of the antitrust authority.

The review reiterates that the courts have definitively settled disputes over the scope of the antitrust authority's mandate to hear complaints under article 18.1 of the Competition Act, as regards complaints about auctions held as part of enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings.

It covers issues arising from the antitrust authority's treatment of breaches of article 10 of the Competition Act, including when testing the dominance of the apartment block management market, as well as finding economic agents that misapply the tariff set by a competent organ in breach of cl. 10, pt. 1, art. 10 of the Competition Act.

It refers to the conclusion that it is impossible to establish a breach of pt. 1, art. 15 of the Competition Act where the antitrust authority fails to ascertain whether non-compliant actions of a public authority can lead to the prevention, restriction or elimination of competition.

The review also contains a number of conclusions regarding directives issued by the antitrust authority, including in respect of the mechanism for measuring income to be seized by the government under par. k), cl. 2, art. 23 of the Competition Act and whether the directive can order to desist from competition law infringements.

The review approved by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation also offers guidelines on the statute of limitations applicable to cases falling under article 19.8 of Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation (RF CAO), as well as the exceptions to the rule that allow a public official taking administrative action against a person under article 14.31 of the RF CAO to give a punishment below the minimum penalty.

You can read the review here.