OREANDA-NEWS. On August 20, 2008 the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) imposed administrative charges upon members of the group of persons of "Mechel" OJSC - "Mechel" Trading House" Ltd., "Yuzhny Kuzbass" Coal Company" OJSC and "Yakutugol" Holding Company" OJSC - and fined them 797 735 291 Rubles under Article 14.31 of the Code of Administrative Violations, the press-centre of FAS Russia reported.

Earlier, investigating the antimonopoly case against the companies, FAS Russia recognized that the group of persons including "Mechel" Trading House" Ltd., "Yuzhny Kuzbass" Coal Company" OJSC, "Yakutugol" Holding Company" OJSC and "Mechel Trading Ltd" violated Clauses 1, 5 and 8 Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition".

The group of persons including "Mechel" Trading House" Ltd., "Yuzhny Kuzbass" Coal Company" OJSC, "Yakutugol" Holding Company" OJSC and "Mechel Trading Ltd" violated the law by abusing dominant position on the market of coking coal concentrates (grades К (К9) and ОС+KC). The companies were issued determinations to eliminate the violations, particularly: satisfy the customer needs in the Russian Federation, send offers to the consumers of coking coal concentrates (grades К (К9) and ОС+KC) on 15% price reduction in September-December 2008, and from 2009 effect long-term contracts (no less than three years).

Under Article 14.31 of the Code of Administrative Violations, if an economic entity that has dominant position on a goods market exercises actions which are classified as abusing dominant position and are forbidden by the antimonopoly legislation of the Russian Federation, such actions are liable with administrative fines upon legal persons amounted to 1 - 15% of the net sales of the violator on the market, where the violation occurred, in the year preceding the year when the violation was revealed.

Investigating the antimonopoly cases, FAS Russia imposed the following fines:

"Mechel" Trading House" Ltd. - 638 945 065 Rubles,

"Yuzhny Kuzbass" Coal Company" OJSC - 127 473 702.5 Rubles,

"Yakutugol" Holding Company" OJSC - 31 316 523.5 Rubles,

Total fines for the group of persons of "Mechel" OJSC - 797 735 291 Rubles, which is approximately 5% of the net sales of the above economic entities on the market, where the violation occurred, in the calendar year preceding the year when the violation was revealed.