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On 9 April 2019, the seminar "Administrative and Criminal Liability for Violations of Antimonopoly Laws: Risk Management" was held at the VEGAS LEX's Moscow Office. The VEGAS LEX's experts spoke at the seminar together with representatives of the FAS Russia.

Alexandra Vasyukhnova, Partner and Head of the Technology and Investment group of VEGAS LEX, as moderator of the seminar, delivered introduction and turned over to Kseniya Podguzova, the lawyer of the Commercial group of VEGAS LEX.

Kseniya spoke of liabilities for violations of antitrust laws and of special enforcement measures, i.e. the instruction to transfer to the budget the revenues generated from monopolistic activity or unfair competition, and the split-up/spin-off of commercial entities. Kseniya considered the practice of applying the said measures and enlarged upon certain matters related to issuance to an entity of the instruction to transfer revenues to the budget.

Igor Antonov, Deputy Head of the Legal Department of the FAS Russia, told the audience about the main draft laws currently prepared by the Federal Antimonopoly Service. Oksana Kuznetsova, Deputy Head of the Legal Department of the FAS Russia, who is a leading expert in the matters of compliance, also attended the seminar. The expert confirmed that the major efforts to implement compliance are now being taken, and stated that, currently, there already exist the cases of weakening of liability when business entities, which introduced antitrust compliance measures, have proved their actual implementation.

Alina Zaytseva, lawyer at the Commercial group of VEGAS LEX, spoke of the factors affecting bringing legal entities to administrative liability and the amount of the imposed fine. The expert drew the audience’s attention to the circumstances weakening and aggravating administrative liability, the grounds for imposition of the minimum fine and of the fine below the statutory minimum as well as the grounds for application of the provisions concerning insignificance of committed offence according to the approaches of courts and antimonopoly authorities.

Anastasiya Cheredova, lawyer at the Commercial group of VEGAS LEX, provided insight into the matters of the administrative liability of officials for violations of antitrust laws, having placed greater focus on the procedure for identifying perpetrators and holding the members of collegial bodies liable. In her speech, the expert paid special attention to the mechanism and practice of disqualification as well as the most common errors and mistakes faced by the parties to administrative cases.

Stanislav Matyushov, lawyer at the Litigation practice of VEGAS LEX, dedicated his speech to the matters of criminal liability for restriction of competition. The expert outlined the practical aspects of application of Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the conditions of exemption from criminal liability, having told about interaction between the FAS Russia and preliminary investigation agencies. Stanislav also paid special attention to the draft law of the FAS Russia, which provides for aggravation of criminal liability for crimes committed with regard to antitrust laws.

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To learn about VEGAS LEX’s activities in the field of antitrust regulation, please click here. 

To learn more about VEGAS LEX’s activities relating to litigation support, please click here.