Antimonopoly Regulation

Such phenomena include:

·        monopolistic activity;

·        unfair competition.

Counteraction to monopolistic activity consists in identifying business entities or groups of individuals that occupy a dominant position on the relevant commodity markets, as well as undertake various actions aimed at limiting or eliminating competition, and abuse their dominant position for the same purposes.

In its turn, resistance to unfair competition consists in identifying actions of business entities aimed at illegally acquiring advantages, benefits, causing losses and harm to business reputation of competitors in the same commodity market.

Is it possible to protect your business and yourself from violation of antimonopoly legislation by competitors?

It is possible. For this purpose you need to contact the relevant Antimonopoly and Pricing policy Department of the regional executive committees (Minsk City Executive Committee) (hereinafter referred to as “the Department”) with a statement, the content of which is established by the legislation, and indicate in it the facts of violation of the Antimonopoly legislation that you know. The statement can be submitted in writing or in electronic form.

The Department shall notify about admission of the statement to consideration within 5 days from the date of its receipt. Substantive consideration of the statement takes 3 months, and then a decision is made. On reasonable grounds, such as undertaking certain actions, obtaining additional information, the Department may extend the period of consideration of the statement and notify the applicant accordingly within 5 days from the extension date.

It is important to take into account that in order to establish the presence (or absence) of violation of the Antimonopoly legislation, certain statutes of limitations are established, and namely 3 years from the date of a violation, and 3 years from the date of its detection or termination in respect of the continuing violations, if the violation was terminated before its detection.

The Department may issue a warning or an order to the violator during or upon consideration of the statement. The warning can be issued even before a decision is made as to determination of a violation, specifying the list of actions that must be taken to eliminate the violation. If the violations are eliminated within a set period of time, then the Department shall close consideration of the statement. In its turn, an order is issued only after a decision is made as to determination of a violation of the Antimonopoly legislation. If the violations are not eliminated, the violator shall be liable to a fine.