Capital Legal Services antitrust team proved that there were no infringements of antitrust law by a company supplying medical oxygen to medical institutions in a Russian region.

The antitrust authority suspected a major producer of medical oxygen of violating the Competition Law as regards entering into an anticompetitive agreement with regional authorities represented by the Ministry of Health Care of a Russian region.

In the antitrust authority’s opinion, the preliminary agreement between the parties, documented in form of a memorandum of understanding, was evidence of breach of the Competition Law.

Furthermore, in the antitrust authority’s opinion, the fact of an anticompetitive agreement was confirmed by the existence of agreements for gas distribution equipment being provided by the manufacturer for use by the medical institutions free of charge.

The associates of the Capital Legal Services antitrust practice provided legal support for the manufacturing company in the course of the antitrust case being examined and during appeal of the antitrust authority’s decision in commercial arbitration court.

The comprehensive line of defense allowed Capital Legal Services associates to prove in commercial arbitration court that circumstances of the case neither separately, nor in aggregate indicate that the manufacturer of medical oxygen obtained any advantage. Moreover, in the course of the litigation it was proven that the antitrust authority made an erroneous conclusion that there were adverse circumstances for the competition as a result of the collaboration between the company and the regional government, including as regards an increase in the price.

Based on the results of the court hearing, the antitrust authority’s decision was deemed unlawful. The appeal instance court left the decision of the first instance court in effect.

This victory allowed to not only prove good faith of the manufacturer’s actions, but also gave the opportunity to use such a collaboration scheme between business and regional authorities in the future.

The project was handled by Irina Akimova, Of Counsel, Head of Antitrust Practice and Dmitry Gavrilenko, Senior Associate.