Mighty Ministries want to be exclusive with cartels

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (the FAS) desires to monopolize the commencement of criminal procedures in case of cartel agreements.

Yesterday, the Legislative Committee of the State Duma postponed the reading of the FAS amendments to Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for second time – the amendments are aimed to enhance the efficiency of the war against cartels. The draft law was adopted in the first reading, but the Head of legal management of the FAS, Sergey Puzyrevsky requested to suspend it: the service prepared the amendments to the law, but it is required to be approved by the Government for its entry into force.

Currently, the prosecution pursuant to Article 178 can be commenced exclusively by the Ministry of Interior Affairs on grounds of the FAS decision, says the Head of ART DE LEX Competition Regulation Practice, Yaroslav Kulik, however such things hardly occur.

The absence of the exclusiveness to initiate the criminal proceedings by the FAS brings risks to the businesses, concludes Kulik.