OREANDA-NEWS. February 29, 2012. Arbitration Appeal Court upheld the decision of the Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Primorie Region (Primorie OFAS Russia) to impose an administrative fine upon “Transneft-Service” Ltd. – 360,000 Rubles, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

Primorie OFAS Russia found that “Transneft-Service” Ltd. violated Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” – omissions and evading concluding a contract for towing, berthing / de-berthing, search-and-rescue preparedness services with “FEMTrans” Ltd., which infringed the interests of “FEMTrans” Ltd.

“FEMTrans” Ltd. offers services of a marine agent to ship-owners and freighters. The company repeatedly asked top-executives of “Transneft-Service” Ltd. to conclude a contract for rendering services necessary to harbour or unharbour vessels and servicing of vessels (towing, berthing / de-berthing, and search-and-rescue preparedness services) in Kozmino bay of the water area of “Vostochny” seaport in the Primorie region. However, “Transneft-Service” Ltd. did not consider petitions of “FEMTrans” Ltd.

“Transneft-Service” Ltd. filed a lawsuit challenging the order of the antimonopoly body to fine the company for committing the violation. The Court of First Instance upheld the order; however, the Appeal Court fully dismissed the order. The antimonopoly body disagreed with the ruling.

Primorie OFAS Russia approached the Federal Arbitration Court of the Dalnevostochny District that returned the case for reconsideration to the Appeal Court. Upon reconsideration, the Appeal Court dismissed the company’s claim and upheld the order of the antimonopoly body.

“The Court found that OFAS incorrectly calculated the fine and dismissed the order in full, in spite of the fact that we had fully proved the fact of the violation. We thought that, firstly, the size of the fine was calculated correctly, and secondly, even if the fine was calculated wrongly, the Court cannot relieve the violator from the sanctions and should, for instance, reduce the fine. As a result of the case reconsideration, the Court upheld our order with the fine that had been initially calculated by us”, explained Deputy Head of Primorie OFAS Russia, Dmitry Abrosimov.