FAS did not support the idea of ​​self-regulation marketplaces – Kommersant

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has sent for revision the standards for interaction between marketplaces and owners of pickup points (PIUs). This is stated in a letter from FAS Deputy Head Petr Ivanov to the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT), which was one of the developers of the standard, reports Forbes.

Market participants have prepared standards after the strike of employees of the Wildberries pickup point. The document sent to the FAS, in particular, proposed to oblige marketplaces to notify partners of all changes to the offer at least 14 days in advance, as well as introduce a ban on the application of penalties retroactively, change the rating system and allow the accrual of fines only if there is evidence of guilt or if the PVZ is not disputed this guilt for a period of seven days.

The FAS considered that the proposed version of the standards violates the equality of the parties. Mr. Ivanov argues that the standards do not clearly spell out the terms and process for notification of changes, the scheme for closing and limiting the activities of points, and the proposed period of 30 days for reviewing disputes “does not meet the conditions of efficiency.” The FAS is convinced that certain clauses “give risks of abuse by marketplaces,” and advise it to be clearer for which violations of the PVZ may face fines.

AKIT President Artem Sokolov said that the main remarks of the FAS are aimed at finalizing the wording in the direction of transparency. He expressed hope that the document will be finalized and adopted by the end of September. “In any case, I think that all FAS proposals are correct. This is healthy criticism. We will finalize the text taking them into account,” Mr. Sokolov promised.

The Wildberries press service claims that marketplaces have already taken into account a significant part of the proposals, but which ones are not specified. Aleksey Kremenskov, Chairman of the Association of E-Commerce Market Participants (also involved in the development of standards), says that marketplaces and pickup point owners have not yet agreed on a number of points. In particular, he noted, marketplaces do not meet business needs in terms of fines, procedures for their collection and contestation.

On March 9, Wildberries announced the introduction of new rules for pickup point owners. They were going to be charged the full cost of the order if a defect or other product was found when it was returned to the warehouse. In response, the owners of the Wildberries pickup point announced a strike demanding the cancellation of fines and the return of the money paid. In April, the marketplace softened fines. In the same month, the court acknowledged illegal requirement of Wildberries for buyers to pay for the return of goods of inadequate quality.

Laura Keffer