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Over the last 5 or 6 years, the number of cases against foreign companies or their representative offices in Russia has increased sharply, a trend most likely to be related to the state’s response to the sanction pressure placed upon the Russian business abroad.

It is worth reminding the reader that the Law on Protection of Competition[1] has an extraterritorial effect and applies to foreign companies if their agreements or actions affect a state of competition within Russia even when such actions are made (or agreements are reached) abroad. That is why the FAS may target any foreign company.

The exception is violations on the territories of two or more EAEU countries—in such a case, these actions or agreements fall within the competence of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

In November 2020, Mr Maksim Shaskolsky, the newly appointed Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (FAS), publically announced a cardinal change in the FAS’s politics. Mr Shaskolsky suggested that control measures be substituted by preventive ones, such as the promotion of compliance introduction, a wider use of warnings, etc. However, no significant changes followed.

In this overview, we cover the most important trends of antitrust regulation that foreign businesses in Russia should know.:

• Unscheduled FAS inspections;
• Compulsory licensing;
•  Criminal prosecution for anticompetitive agreements;
  
• Control over pricing of large manufacturers and chain stores;
  
• Challenging the M&A transactions.