OREANDA-NEWS. November 08, 2012. The Commission of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) considered a case against “BMW Rusland Trading” Ltd. and “Ekvinet” Trading House” Ltd. upon signs of violating Part 4 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” (concluding competition-restricting agreements), and upon signs of violating Part 5 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” (coordinating activities of independent economic entities), reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The case was initiated upon a complaint of the Association of Distributors and Producers of Car Service Equipment against “BMW Rusland Trading” Ltd. In the opinion of the Association, the company restricted access of economic entities to the market of supplying equipment for car service stations of BMW dealer centres.

As an official distributor of “BMW AG” in Russia, “BMW Rusland Trading” Ltd. informed all its dealers in writing about a decision to cooperate with “Ekvinet” Trading House” Ltd. According to the letter, BMW approved “Ekvinet” Trading House” Ltd. as the single supplier of the elements of corporate identification, furniture and service equipment and instructed all dealers to conclude contracts with “Ekvinet” Trading House” Ltd. by 1st September 2009 for supplying service equipment authorized by BMW. The letters were sent by “BMW Rusland Trading” Ltd. upon receiving the recommendations from “BMW AG”.

In the course of the case investigation, representatives of “BMW AG” explained that BMW centres in Russia and abroad were not restricted in their right to independently choose suppliers of the equipment for car-service stations. BMW publishes on its official web-site in an open access the journals of requirements for car-service station equipment that take into consideration design features of the BMW cars. The dealers can independently select the equipment that meets the requirements. The list of the recommended equipment for car-services stations that the dealers also can buy is published on BMW web-site in the on-line catalogue. The equipment is authorized and refined according to the specific BMW requirements. “BMW AG” independently buys the recommended equipment, which then is distributed among Russian BMW dealers through the chosen partner - “Ekvinet” Trading House” Ltd.

Representatives of “BMW Rusland Trading” Ltd. claimed that sending the letter the company had not pursued the objective to coordinate dealers to purchase the equipment. Agreeing that the wordings in the letter had been unfortunate, “BMW Rusland Trading” Ltd. additionally sent explanations to all dealers that they are able to independently select suppliers of the equipment, which meets the BMW requirements.

FAS analyzed purchasing activities of BMW dealers and established that they purchased service equipment from various suppliers apart from “Ekvinet” Trading House” Ltd. The FAS Commission did not reveal any facts when BMW prohibited its dealers to buy equipment from other suppliers.

The FAS Commission also did not reveal the fact of concluding an exclusive agreement between “BMW Rusland Trading” Ltd. and “Ekvinet” Trading House” Ltd., which could have restricted competition on the market of supplying equipment for car-service stations.

Since the Commission did not find documented facts when BMW dealers refused to purchase equipment from suppliers, FAS terminated the proceedings on the case.

“If FAS receives document-supported information on the incidents of dealers refusing to supply equipment or that BMW, its distributor or other persons forcing dealers to purchase from particular suppliers, FAS is prepared to reopen the case upon discovery of new facts and, possibly, reconsider the decision”, pointed out Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Kashevarov.

All interested persons can send information regarding the case circumstances and possible adverse consequences of the actions of “BMW Rusland Trading” Ltd. and “BMW AG” to: prom@fas.gov.ru