Russian court upholds antimonopoly service-Eurocement peace deal
MOSCOW, August 16 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow District Federal Arbitration Court has withdrawn its July 25 refusal to approve a peace agreement between Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service and Eurocement, the country's largest cement producer, the head of the service's press office said Wednesday.
The service and the company had signed the agreement following a dispute over monopolization charges on July 3.
Irina Kashunina said, "A different team of judges has withdrawn the decision, and ruled that we have the right to conclude a voluntary settlement agreement. We are seeking to re-submit the issue to a team of judges which will make decision on our dispute at hearings on August 25."
Under the peace agreement, Eurocement was to inform the antimonopoly service of price rises of more than 5%, invest 10 billion rubles ($373 million) by 2010 in modernizing its infrastructure, and pay to the budget 267 million rubles ($9.9 million) of its revenues gained as a result of violating antimonopoly laws.
The service had accused Eurocement in October of breaching competition laws by raising prices by 70% from March 1, 2005, and ordered it to lower its prices "to a level of fair competitive pricing."
Eurocement appealed the decision, saying the antimonopoly service had failed to prove that the company dominated on the cement market, and had not taken into account dealer markups of 35%, which were also influencing the market.
The Moscow Arbitration Court rejected the company's appeal on January 10, and Eurocement filed an appeal with a higher court, which struck down the antimonopoly regulations on March 31. The antimonopoly service, in turn, appealed to the Moscow District Federal Arbitration Court.
Under the agreement with the antimonopoly service, Eurocement also pledged to abide by antimonopoly legislation and not to abuse its leading position on the market.
Service head Igor Artemyev said earlier that courts had approved peace agreements between the antimonopoly service and economic entities on several occasions previously, and insisted that his service had the right to conclude such agreements.