Cartel or Non-Cartel: Problems of Proving Agreements Between Competitors After the Adoption of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of March 4, 2021 No. 2

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the practice of proving cartel agreements after the adoption of the Resolution No. 2 of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated March 4^th, 2021 “On some issues arising in connection with the application of antimonopoly legislation by the courts.”

Prior to the adoption of this Resolution, the legal approaches of the law enforcement officer to the establishment and proof of signs of cartel agreements prohibited in accordance with Article 11 of the Federal Law of July 26th, 2006 No. 135-FZ “On Protection of Competition”, with all their effectiveness, were often criticized by the professional community for lower standards of proof and lack of attention to the economic aspects of the violations investigated.

Based on the latest trends in law enforcement practice in cartel cases, the author comes to the conclusion that the clarifications of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, reflected in the Resolution No. 2 of its Plenum dated March 4, 2021, contribute to the formation of a more grounded approach to the interpretation and proving of cartels.