Russian Antitrust Law

Statutory Framework

Russian competition law is codified in Federal Law No. 135-FZ “On Protection of Competition” (the Competition Law), adopted on 26 July 2006. The law regulates monopolistic activity, unfair competition, merger control, state and municipal preferences, and the prohibition of anticompetitive acts by state bodies. The principal enforcement authority is the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) , a federal executive body directly subordinate to the Government of the Russian Federation. The FAS is organized through territorial departments and central directorates, with sector-specific oversight in digital markets, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, transportation, and fuel and energy.

Prohibition of Monopolistic Activity: Article 10

Article 10 of the Competition Law prohibits abuse of a dominant position, defined as the ability of an undertaking to exert decisive influence on general conditions of goods circulation in a relevant market. An undertaking is presumptively dominant with a market share exceeding 50% (unless proved otherwise), while a share between 35% and 50% requires additional proof. The exhaustive list of prohibited abuses includes: monopolistically high or low prices, withdrawal of goods from circulation, imposition of unfavorable contract terms, economically or technologically unjustified refusal to deal, discriminatory conditions, and tying. The FAS applies Article 10 actively in the digital economy, most notably in cases against Google (pre-installation of Google services on Android) and Apple (app store commission rates).

Anticompetitive Agreements: Article 11

Article 11 of the Competition Law prohibits horizontal agreements (cartels) between competing undertakings that lead to price fixing, output limitation, market allocation, or bid rigging. Such agreements are treated as per se unlawful. Vertical agreements are prohibited under Article 11(2) where they may lead to resale price maintenance or to a refusal to deal with competing undertakings. Coordinated actions (soglasovannye deystviya)—parallel behavior by market participants with no formal agreement—fall within the scope of Article 11(3) if they are economically or technologically predetermined or if the undertakings have acted knowingly in parallel.

Unfair Competition: Article 14

Article 14 prohibits unfair competition, defined as any action of a business entity aimed at obtaining advantages that contradicts the law, business customs, integrity, reasonableness, or fairness and causes or may cause losses to competitors or harm their business reputation. The FAS has developed extensive decisional practice on discrediting competitors, misleading consumers, misappropriation of trade dress, and unauthorized use of trademarks. The 5th Antimonopoly Package expanded the scope of unfair competition in digital markets, including prohibitions on unfairly using data obtained through third-party platforms and on manipulating search rankings.

Merger Control

Russian merger control is governed by Chapter 7 of the Competition Law. Transactions are notifiable to the FAS where the aggregate asset value or revenue of the parties exceeds thresholds (indexed annually) and the transaction results in the acquisition of more than 25% of voting shares or rights to determine competitive behavior. The FAS conducts a review of competitive effects and may approve, approve with conditions, or reject a transaction. The Prior approval regime applies to transactions involving undertakings with a combined worldwide asset value of over RUB 7 billion or combined revenue exceeding RUB 10 billion. Certain transactions are subject to the Foreign Investment in Strategic Sectors Law (No. 57-FZ), which requires government approval for acquisitions of control over Russian strategic enterprises.

The 5th Antimonopoly Package (2022)

The 5th Antimonopoly Package amended the Competition Law effective from September 2022, introducing significant changes for digital markets. The amendments defined a “digital marketplace” concept and established criteria under which a platform operator may be found dominant: network effects, control over the collection and processing of economically significant data, market position facilitating imposition of terms on counterparties, and the presence of barriers to entry. The package also introduced mandatory prior notification for acquisitions of rights over digital platforms, strengthened the FAS’s investigative powers for algorithmic collusion, and amended Article 10 to prohibit self-preferencing by dominant digital platforms.

Enforcement and Sanctions

The FAS may impose administrative fines of up to 15% of the offender’s annual turnover (on the market where the infringement occurred) for abuse of dominance, up to 4% for vertical agreements, and up to 15% for cartels. Criminal liability under Article 178 of the Criminal Code may attach to individuals who engage in cartel activity causing large-scale damage or generating large-scale income. The turnover fine metric replaced the earlier fixed-base calculation in 2016 and has substantially increased the deterrent effect of FAS enforcement.

International Engagement

Russia is not a member of the European Competition Network but participates in the International Competition Network (ICN) and BRICS Competition Forum. The FAS has entered into bilateral cooperation agreements with authorities in China, India, South Africa, Brazil, and members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The EAEU competition law framework, established by the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (2014), applies cross-border anticompetitive conduct within the EAEU common market and is enforced by the EAEU Commission’s Competition and Antitrust Regulation Unit.