Russia: Introduced Amendments to the Federal Law On the Protection of Competition Regarding Unilateral Conduct

On 7 July 2022, the Bill amending the Federal Law On the Protection of Competition Regarding Unilateral Conduct (Bill No. 160280-8) was introduced in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The Bill amends the Federal Law on the Protection of Competition (No. 135-FZ) of 26 July 2006. The Bill applies to “dominant entities”, which must fulfil the following two thresholds to be considered “dominant”: the entity must have a revenue larger than RUB 2 billion during the last calendar year and must host more than 35% of all transactions in the market it is operating in. Such entities would be prohibited from abusing their dominant position in the markets they are active. A dominant position is further fulfilled if entities have 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. If turned into law, the Bill would enter into force on 1 March 2023.