OREANDA-NEWS. On March 04, 2008 the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) imposed administrative charges upon "RZhD" OJSC and fined it 148 910 940 Rubles under Article 14.31 of the Code of Administrative Violations of the Russian Federation for abusing its dominant position, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

On 24th December 2007, FAS Russia recognized that "RZhD" OJSC violated Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" (creating discriminatory conditions and preventing economic entities form entering the goods market) in the field of roundhouse services and overall repair of the freight stock.

The case was initiated upon a petition of the "Soyuzgruzpromtrans" not-for-profit organization, accompanied by petitions form several economic entities - users of the services offered by companies-operators of "RZhD" OJSC, as well as the Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk regional offices of FAS Russia.

"RZhD" OJSC violated the law by failure to provide equal access to the railway repair facilities, owned by "RZhD" OJSC, as a result of abusing its dominant position on the market of rolling stock repair services.

The FSA Russia Commission, processing the case in accordance with the existing regulations, made analysis and assessment of the competitive environment on the market of roundhouse services and overall repair of the freight stock, and was able to confirm the dominant position of "RZhD" OJSC.

Having considered the case, FAS Russia issued a determination to "RZhD" OJSC requesting the company to eliminate the antimonopoly violations.

The described antimonopoly violations of Article 14.31 of the Code of Administrative Violations of the Russian Federation are administratively liable with fines.

Calculating the fine, FAS Russia took into account certain circumstances of the case. As a result, the fine, imposed in the penalty range specified in Article 14.31 of the Code of Administrative Violations, amounted to 4,5% of the violator's proceeds gained according to the contracts with the freight stock owners for the works on repairing the freight stock using the repair facilities of "RZhD" OJSC - 148 910 940 Rubles.

Furthermore, the amount of fine reflects the fact that "RZhD" OJSC repeatedly committed the administrative violation under Article 14.31 of the Code of Administrative Violations - there are valid court rulings regarding other antimonopoly violations by "RZhD" OJSC.