Russia: Adopted Amendments to the Federal Law on the Protection of Competition Regarding (Bill No. 160280-8) including unilateral conduct regulation

On 5 July 2023, the Bill amending the Federal Law On the Protection of Competition Regarding Unilateral Conduct (Bill No. 160280-8) was adopted by the Federal Council. The Bill applies to dominant entities that own a digital platform, determined by three thresholds: Having revenue larger than RUB 2 billion during the last calendar year, 2) hosting more than 35% of all transactions in their market, and 3) having a significant impact on other related markets, which can be measured through network effects. Network effects are defined in the Bill as the effect of a good or service becoming more valuable, with an increasing number of sellers and buyers, as this increases the number of transactions a business entity enables on its platform. Such entities would be prohibited from abusing their dominant position in the markets they are active. The Bill now goes to the President for signing into Law. The Bill amends the Federal Law on the Protection of Competition (No. 135-FZ) of 26 July 2006.