OREANDA-NEWS. January 30, 2014. The Supreme Arbitration Court (VAC) of the Russian Federation dismissed a claim of “Gazprombank” OJSC to transfer a case to the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court and upheld the ruling of the Appeal Court and the Cassation Court that confirmed legitimacy of the decision issued by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) to refuse to satisfy a petition of “Gazprombank” OJSC for acquiring 50.9 % shares of “Moscow United Electric Grid Company” OJSC (“MOESK” OJSC) in trust management.

In 2011, the Antimonopoly Service received a petition of “Gazprombank” on acquiring 50.9 % voting shares of “MOESK” OJSC in trust management. FAS refused to satisfy the petition because the transaction can result in restricting competition on the markets of electric power industry by combining naturally monopolistic activities ( services for electric power transmission) and competitive activities (generating electric power).

The company disagreed with the decision of the Antimonopoly Service and filed a lawsuit. On 24th January 2014, however, the Supreme Arbitration Court refused to satisfy the claim and drew a line in the dispute.

“The Supreme Arbitration Court supported the Antimonopoly Service in a principal issue for us: prohibiting combining competitive and naturally monopolistic activities in the electric power industry. We plan to ensure strict compliance with the statutory prohibition in the future”, commented the Head of FAS Department for Control over Electric Power Industry, Vitaly Korolyov.

Reference:

Article 6 of the Federal Law “On Specifics of Functioning of the Electric Power Industry in the Transition Period” prohibits affiliated persons within the boundaries of the same price zone to combine electric power transmission and operational dispatch management with generation and buying-and-selling electric power.