FAS proposed to toughen the punishment for cartel collusion at the auction

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has proposed amendments to the bill to increase liability for actions that restrict competition through the conclusion of cartel agreements. In particular, for violators with aggravating circumstances, the minimum punishment will be forced labor, not a fine. The press service of the government apparatus reported RBCthat the updated document was approved by the government commission on legislative activity on 7 August.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service has proposed strengthening sanctions for illegal actions that will not affect bona fide entrepreneurs and will not increase the administrative burden on them. The FAS noted that when preparing the draft amendments, comments from business, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the Investigative Committee were taken into account.

At the same time, key proposals on the introduction of new aggravating circumstances in the conclusion of cartel agreements remained in the bill. However, it is proposed to toughen the minimum punishment for such acts. In addition, according to the amendments, forced labor should be provided instead of a fine.

“The need to tighten criminal liability for the conclusion of an agreement (cartel) restricting competition at the auction is due to the fact that bid rigging constitutes the largest part of the violations. At the same time, bidding is a special mechanism that was created with the aim of effectively using budgetary funds, ”the FAS press service told the publication.

Two government bills as part of the anti-cartel package were made to the State Duma in 2019. However, the bill was later amended. The second version of the draft law was adopted in the first reading in December 2022. According to the document, in the new edition of article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation budut tightened penalties for the conclusion of a cartel and participation in it, if this act caused major damage. The terms of forced labor and imprisonment for these acts have been increased from three to four years. A qualified corpus delicti is also established for cartels at auctions with criminal liability of up to five years in prison.

Milena Kostereva