Antitrust launches another case against Russia’s NCSP

MOSCOW, Apr 10 (PRIME) -- The Federal Antimonopoly Service has launched another case against Russia’s Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP), a representative of the service told PRIME on Tuesday.

“The service earlier deemed NCSP guilty of setting and maintaining tariffs for services on handling of ore, fertilizers, containers, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, oil and oil products and of abusing its dominating position. NCSP has set the price of handling in U.S. dollars, which boosted spending of counteragents on port services,” the representative said.

“The issued order on termination of the violation of the competition law was cancelled by the court on formal grounds without establishing the fact of violation of the antimonopoly legislation. The Supreme Council is considering the case. But NCSP has not stopped abusing its monopoly position, so the service launched a new case of violation of the antimonopoly legislation.”

The service said previously that NCSP had set monopolistically high tariffs in 2013 after the government abolished state regulation of tariffs, and said that the company switched the tariffs into U.S. dollars after the ruble had depreciated in 2014. The service ordered NCSP to set economically grounded tariffs in rubles, and to transfer 9.7 billion rubles of income received due to violation of the antimonopoly legislation to the budget.

The Moscow Arbitration Court acknowledged the decision and orders of the service illegal in 2017, and voided an appeal filed by the service. Later in the year, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal sided with the lower court. In February 2018, the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District upheld decisions of the two lower courts.

(58.5714 rubles – U.S. $1)

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