Titov proposed to remove cartel agreements on commodity markets from the Criminal Code

Commissioner for Human Rights Boris Titov proposed to partially decriminalize the article of the Criminal Code, which punishes the restriction of competition (Article 178 of the Criminal Code), and remove from it the concept of “cartel collusion in commodity markets.” About this he informed in conversation with RBC.

“We propose to partially decriminalize Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Restriction of Competition”). Namely, to separate cartels in commodity markets from bid rigging and to remove cartels in commodity markets from criminal liability,” he said.

Titov made this proposal in addition to the measures proposed by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) to decriminalize the economic articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to Titov, cartels in commodity markets do not harm the state and do not affect the implementation of national projects. He emphasized that cartels are only an economic offense and therefore “should be suppressed exclusively by economic sanctions.” Titov also noted that the market independently and effectively copes with the regulation of prices in commodity markets.

The fact that the RSPP has prepared a set of measures to reduce criminal and administrative pressure on business, Vedomosti wrote previously. In particular, business proposes to decriminalize violations under articles on illegal entrepreneurship (Article 171), making foreign exchange transactions to transfer funds in foreign currency or the currency of the Russian Federation to the accounts of non-residents using false documents (Article 193.1), violation of the rules for the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere substances (part 1 of article 251), theft of another’s property by deceit or breach of trust without causing significant damage (part 1 of article 159), illegal use of an invention, utility model (part 1 of article 147).