The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation is preparing draft amendments to the Russian antimonopoly legislation, suggesting the possibility of revising the instructions of the service in case of a significant change in economic conditions. These changes will make it possible to correct the orders in cases of violation of antitrust laws in the rolled metal market by Severstal, Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works.
In February, the antimonopoly body found the largest Russian metallurgists guilty of violating the antimonopoly law and ordered them to stop abusing their dominant position and take actions aimed at ensuring competition. Based on the materials of antimonopoly cases, cases of administrative violations were initiated.
In addition to the orders already issued, metallurgists face fines tied to the amount of revenue received on the product market for a certain period (the FAS previously stated that it plans to focus on revenue for 2020). Now the FAS is completing the calculation of fines and may make a decision in the “coming months”.
At the beginning of the year, VTB Capital analysts estimated fines in the cases of Severstal and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works at $130-140 million, and Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works at $100-150 million.
Metallurgical companies stated that they do not agree with the decisions of the FAS and are challenging them in court.
