Federal Antimonopoly Service
The Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (FAS) () is the federal-level executive governmental organ that controls the execution of the antitrust law and related areas. The FAS was established by President Vladimir Putin through Decree #314, which was issued on March 9, 2004. The agency was led from its inception in 2004 to 2020 by Igor Artemiev. He has since been replaced in this capacity by Maksim Shaskolsky, the former vice governor of Saint Petersburg. History. The predecessor of the Federal Antimonopoly Service is the RSFSR State Committee on Antimonopoly Policy and Support for New Economic Structures , formed in accordance with the RSFSR Law of July 14, 1990 “On Republican Ministries and State Committees of the RSFSR”. Valery Chernogorodsky was appointed Chairman of the Committee. The staff of the apparatus was determined to be 150 units in accordance with the Provisional Regulation on the Civil Code of Russia was introduced, which was approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR of September 10, 1990 No. 344. In July 2015, on a proposal of the Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, President Vladimir Putin approved the merger of the Federal Tariffs Service with the FAS  Russia, adding thus to the competences of the latter mandate with price and tariff regulation, regulation of electricity tariffs, gas prices and certain other tariffs and some functions of natural monopoly regulation. Organization. Among the departments of the FAS Central authority there are: International Cooperation. The FAS Russia cooperates with international organizations and foreign authorities in the sphere of the antimonopoly policy, combating unfair competition practices and governmental regulation of natural monopolies. The international activity of the FAS Russia includes: - Contribution to integration of the Russian economy into the global economic area; - Realization of economic liabilities of the Russian Federation  on issues, related to the competence of the FAS Russia; - Participation in development of conception of united European economic space; - Protection of Russian interests by participation in field-oriented international organizations; - Implementation of the best foreign experience to the Russian practice, advanced training of employees of the FAS Russia; - Preparation and realization of technical assistance from international organizations on behalf of the FAS Russia The FAS Russia participates in International Working Groups. On its initiative 3 groups were created: - Working Group on Investigatory Issues of Pricing in Oil and Oil Product Markets and Methods of Their Functioning (the Working Group  on oil) – was created in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Competition Authority in 2011 and closed down in 2014 since all its goals were achieved; - International Working Group on Research of Competition Issues in the Market of International Telecommunications (Roaming) – was created in 2012 for the purpose of meeting the Recommendations for Developing Markets of International Telecommunications in the CIS Member-States contained in the Report on the State of Competition in the CIS Mobile Communication Markets; - International Working Group for Studying Competition Problems on Pharmaceutical Sector – was created in cooperation with the Italian Competition Authority in 2012; aimed at  elaboration of specific proposals on forming the competition environment in the pharmaceutical market and ensuring the availability of medicines to the consumers. The FAS Russia has established ties and participates in the work of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Interstate Council for Antimonopoly Policy (ICAP) uniting 10 CIS Countries and Ukraine, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), International Competition Network (ICN), BRICS, European Union (basing on the Agreement on partnership and cooperation between Russia and the EU entered into force in 1997), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Energy Regulators Regional Association  (ERRA). To enhance international cooperation in the competition field, the FAS Russia holds annually the event “Russian Competition Week” which in 2015 gathered heads of competition authorities of the countries all across the globe and was attended by Vladimir Putin. Prominent cases. a) Google On September 14, 2015 the FAS Russia's Commission arrived to the conclusion on abuse by the Google group of companies of its dominant position on the market of pre-installed application stores, based on investigating the case against Google Inc, Google Ireland Ltd., Google Ltd., following the Russian Internet company Yandex' complaint that Google’s  search engine was compulsorily installed as the default on mobile devices and that its icons enjoyed preferential placement on the screen. To restore competition on the market, Google, in accord with the FAS Russia's determination, must adjust its contracts with mobile devices vendors within a month – exclude anticompetitive requirements from the contracts that restrict installing applications and services of other vendors. In 2021, the FAS fined Google once again on the grounds of alleged violations of advertising law.