OREANDA-NEWS. On March 16, 2009 the 13th Arbitration Appeal Court allowed the appeal of FAS Russia and revoked the ruling of the Arbitration Court of St Petersburg and the Leningrad region. The Court also dismissed the claim of "Gazprom Neft" OJSC, which requested to invalidate and revoke the determination of FAS Russia on imposing administrative charges upon the company, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

Under Article 25 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", commercial organizations (their officials) must submit to the antimonopoly body, upon its reasonable request documents, written and oral explanations, information (including commercial, official or other secrets protected by the law), required by the antimonopoly authority in order to investigate petitions and materials on violations of the antimonopoly legislation, or antimonopoly cases in accordance with its scope of powers.

Part 5 Article 19.8 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations specifies administrative sanctions against legal entities - from 300 000 to 500 000 Rubles - for failure to present information (data) to the antimonopoly authority in accordance with the antimonopoly legislation of the Russian Federation, including failure to present data (information) upon a request of the antimonopoly authority.

In August 2008 FAS Russia issued a determination on imposing administrative charges upon "Gazprom Neft" OJSC for failure to submit in due time all documents and information requested by the antimonopoly authority as part of investigation of a case of antimonopoly violations on the wholesale market of oil products.

"Gazprom Neft" OJSC appealed the determination to a court of law.

On 1st December 2008 the Arbitration Court of St Petersburg and the Leningrad region sustained the claim of "Gazprom Neft" OJSC on invalidating and revoking the FAS Russia's determination. The 13th Arbitration Appeal Court, however, allowed the appeal of FAS Russia, revoked the ruling of the Court of First Instance, and made a new ruling on dismissing the claim of "Gazprom Neft" OJSC. This ruling confirmed validity and relevance of the determination issued by the antimonopoly body.