Russian antitrust fines Apple manager for illegal phone pricing

MOSCOW, Jul 3 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service has fined an employee of a local unit of Apple with 20,000 rubles for illegal coordination of prices of smartphones, a spokesperson for the authority said on Monday.

“An executive of Apple Rus was found guilty of committing an administrative violation,” the spokesperson said.

The company breached the law from October 25, 2013, through April 4, 2016, when fines for employees amounted to 20,000–50,000 rubles. Under a revised law, in force since April 17, the punishment stands at 40,000–50,000 rubles or disqualification for up to three years.

In March, the antitrust service’s commission found Apple Rus guilty of violating the competition law by coordinating economic activities of local sellers of iPhone smartphones, which resulted in setting and maintaining prices of the iPhone 5s, 5c, 6, 6 Plus, 6s, and 6s Plus on the Russian market.

(59.3862 rubles – U.S. $1)

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