OREANDA-NEWS.May 05, 2012. Igor Artemyev, the Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) made this statement at a briefing at the Association of European Business dedicated to parallel imports, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

For the first time, FAS raised the issue of liberalizing parallel imports in 2008. The Antimonopoly Service proposed to replace the regional principle of exhaustion of an entitlement, which at that time was in force in Russia, with the international one. Under the regional principle, sales of brand products by third parties are allowed only upon a permission granted by the rights holder; under the international principle the rights holder loses an exclusive right for the products immediately after the products are sold.

Liberalization of parallel imports will facilitate development of competition and form preconditions for cutting down prices for imported goods. Transition to the international principle, under which exclusive dealership is impossible, will exclude monopoly of high prices, intensify inter-brand and intra-brand competition, and stimulate introduction.

“It is necessary to move towards the so-called international principle of exhaustion of rights. If a product appears in the USA or the European Union and is considered as officially introduced in circulation in the Russian Federation, each of our entrepreneurs has the right to lawfully buy it in any country, import and sell it on the Russian market. At the same time we must escape today’s discrimination, which exists in the form of a special permission of a patent holder for imported goods”, said the Head of FAS Russia.

Artemyev especially emphasized for the participants of the briefing willingness of the Antimonopoly Service to develop effective cooperation with entrepreneurial community and importance of such cooperation in order to focus on finding the best possible changes to the law so parallel imports become a reality without violating the rights and interests of the rights holders.

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Association of European Business was formed in 1995. This non-commercial organization unites over 600 companies from the European Union and Russia. Members of the Association include large multinational corporations and small enterprises, united by a desire to establish reliable links between the European Union and the Russian Federation, as well as improve business climate in Russia.