OREANDA-NEWS. April 14, 2008. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) sent letters to the heads of the constituent territories of the Russian Federation and municipalities explaining enforcement of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" with regard to the transactions with the objects of utility infrastructure in the state or municipal property, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

According to FAS Russia, transferring the rights for the above objects to economic entities without bidding restricts competition, infringe the rights of economic entities who wish to obtain the rights for the state and municipal property, and infringe the interests of consumers of the services offered by companies operating in the utility sector.

At the same time, restriction of competition does not occur on the market of utility services, which usually is a natural monopoly, - the problem is in restricting competition for the rights on the objects of utility infrastructure, that is - competition for the entry to a relevant market.

Bidding encourages competition because it creates conditions for choosing a counteragent that offers the best terms. It provides equal access to the state and municipal property for all interested persons and ensures protection of the interests of the property owners.

With that, the authorities should organize the biddings in compliance with the antimonopoly legislation, in particular, Article 17 of the Law "On Protection of Competition", which specifies the antimonopoly regulation of bidding.

To prevent antimonopoly violations in course of bidding, FAS Russia has formulated and sent to the heads of the constituent territories of the Russian Federation and municipalities the "Guidelines on organizing biddings by the state authorities and local self-government bodies for transferring the property rights for the objects of utility infrastructure".

In particular, the Guidelines make provisions for:

- Publishing information in official print media and on the official Internet sites, designed to provide information on state and municipal procurement;

- Exhaustive list of requirements to the bidders, which opens participating in the bidding to all interested persons;

- Predominantly quality criteria for bids evaluation and comparison, as well as such evaluation procedures that make the procedure of determining the winner transparent and clear for all bidders.