OREANDA-NEWS. March 31, 2014. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) found that the Moscow Government restricted competition on the market of deicing agents.

The FAS Commission made a decision on the case of deicing agents, initiated against Moscow Department for the Housing & Utilities Sector and Urban Development as well as the Moscow Government.

Earlier FAS opened a case upon a petition of “Volgograd Magnesium Works” Ltd. against Moscow Department for the Housing a& Utilities Sector and Urban Development and the Moscow Government upon signs of violating Part 1 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” (prohibiting competition-restricting acts and actions (omissions) of federal executive bodies, the authorities of the constituent territories of the Russian Federation).

Investigating the case, the FAS Commission established that based on No.242-PP Decree of the Moscow Government Moscow “On the Procedures of Permitting Use of Deicing Agents for Winter Cleaning UP Public Road Facilities in Moscow” of 10th April 2007, Moscow Department for the Housing & Utilities Sector and Urban Development adopted the functions for organizing environmental expert examination by the state. Economic entities intended to supply new deicing agents could undergo this examination independently.

Thus, Moscow Department for the Housing & Utilities Sector and Urban Development restricted independence of economic entities wishing to enter the market of deicing agents in Moscow.

The FAS Commission found that the Moscow Government violated Part 1 Article 15 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” in the part of exercising actions that could have restricted competition, and issued a determination to the Moscow Government to eliminate the violation of the antimonopoly law.

The proceedings against Moscow Department for the Housing & Utilities Sector and Urban Development are terminated due to the absence of antimonopoly violations in its actions.