The most recent amendments to the Russian Competition Law, called the Fourth Antimonopoly Package, became effective January 6, 2016. Among other developments, the Fourth Antimonopoly Package brought joint venture (JV) agreements under mandatory merger control clearance procedures.
On September 18, 2015, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (“FAS”) ruled that Google had abused its dominant position in the market for pre-installed applications on mobile devices with an Android operating system in the Russian Federation. The ruling was affirmed on March 14, 2016 by the Moscow Arbitration Court.
The major trend in the regulator’s merger control approach remains quite liberal. This can be seen in both the regulator’s practice and legislative development. Fines for failure to meet the merger control requirements have not been increased.
On February 11, 2016 the Federal Law “On Ratifying the Agreement on Common Principles and Rules for the Circulation of Medical Devices (Medical Goods and Medical Equipment) Within the Framework of the Eurasian Economic Union” and Federal Law “On Ratifying the Agreement on Common Principles and Rules for the Circulation of Pharmaceuticals within the Framework of the Eurasian Economic Union” (Agreements) came into force.
Anna Numerova and Elena Kazak became the authors of the Russia chapter in The Merger Control Review.
Ilya Nikiforov, Anna Ivanova, Vladimir Stepanov, Mark Rovinskiy, Pavel Sadovsky, Maria Demina, Maria Kobanenko, Denis Gavrilov and Elena Kazak became the authors of Doing business in Russian Federation by Practical Law.
International Antitrust Bulletin by ABA Section of Antitrust Law publishes an artcile by Anna Numerova and Elena Kazak.
EPAM has made a number of promotions in its Moscow office. Real estate and construction lawyer Elena Gavrilina has been made partner, litigators Alexander Vaneev and Vera Rikhterman have become counsel and competition lawyer Elena Kazak is promoted to senior associate.
Russia’s competition authority Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) is likely to face more legal challenges over its warnings to dominant companies on anticompetitive practices after the country’s Supreme Arbitration Court (VAS) ruling allowing Gazprom’s subsidiary to dispute a warning against it at arbitration courts, two Moscow based lawyers said.
CEE Legal Matters Magazine publishes an article by Natalia Korosteleva and Evgeny Bolshakov.
The proposed tie-up between Holcim and Lafarge is unlikely to face competition hurdles in Russia. The country’s competition authority, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), is expected to assess the deal’s impact on regional cement markets, in which the two European companies' presence is largely complementary, said two Moscow-based lawyers.
EPAM lawyers writes on amendments to the Russian Competition Law.
Evgeny Bolshakov on the FAS clarified the criteria of a joint venture agreement validity and how to evaluate certain non-compete provisions therein.
Parties to an alleged Pollock fishing cartel in the Russian Far East could face charges from international regulatory authorities, several Russian antitrust lawyers told PaRR.