OREANDA-NEWS. September 18, 2009. The Yaroslavl Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (the Yaroslavl OFAS Russia) found that "Yaroslavlskaya Regionalnaya Kompania Po Realizatsii Gaza [Yaroslavl Regional Gas Supplier]" Ltd. ("Yarregiongaz" Ltd.) violated the antimonopoly legislation, which prohibits an economic entity with dominant position to exercise actions that can infringe interests of other persons, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

Breaching Clause 3 Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", "Yarregiongaz" Ltd. effused to remove and unfafourable conditions for gas supply from the contract with "Yarislavskie Syry" Ltd., namely: the 1.5 penalty coefficient, applied if the counteragent consumes more gas than specified in the contract.

"The position of the Yaroslavl OFAS Russia is based, in particular, on the Ruling of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of 14th April 2009, according to which a refusal to abolish penalty coefficients should be pronounced as imposing unfavourable contract conditions and, therefore, a violation of the antimonopoly legislation", commented Natalia Sibrikova, the Head of OFAS Russia.

Having investigating the case, the Commission of the Yaroslavl OFAS Russia issued a determination to "Yarregiongaz" Ltd. to change the contract conditions by excluding the clause specifying the conditions for paying penalty coefficients.

Upon revealing the fact of the antimonopoly violation, the Yaroslavl OFAS Russia is considering imposing administrative charges upon "Yarregiongaz" Ltd. For abusing dominant position, the company is facing a "turnover fine" in the amount of 1-15% of the proceeds in the preceding year.