OREANDA-NEWS. August 27, 2014. The Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow District supported the judgment of Moscow Arbitration Court and the ruling of the 9th Arbitration Appeal Court that had pronounced legitimacy and reasonableness of the FAS decision issued upon violations of the antimonopoly law on the market of catching and wholesale sales of Pollack and products of its processing.

On 12th December 2012, FAS found that 26 fishing companies in the Far East formed a cartel for maintaining prices and restricting Pollack catching in the spawning season, and that “Pollack Catchers Association” Non-Profit organization unlawfully coordinated economic activities. At that time all cartel participants were members of the Association.

“The decision of the Antimonopoly Service on one of the largest Russian cartels was supported by three Court instances. FAS was able to suppress the cartel that operated on the domestic market for over four years, and create preconditions for increasing Pollack supplies to the Russian Federation”, said the Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department, Andrey Tenischev.

Upon investigating the case, FAS fined the violators – legal entities over 120 million RUB. The case materials were forwarded to the law enforcement bodies to open criminal cases against the responsible officials.

“We are convinced that fish caught in the Russian Federation must, first of all, be used to satisfy the needs of Russian customers. Today it becomes especially important, when it is necessary to substitute import of food products”, pointed out Deputy Head of FAS Alexander Kinev.