The Russian Presidium of the Supreme Court considers a competition case for the first time, granting the appeal of Europe’s largest port operator concerning sanctions for abuse of dominance (Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port)

THE FIRST COMPETITION CASE IN THE PRESIDIUM OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION – RESOLUTION OF THE DISPUTE BETWEEN THE FAS AND THE LARGEST STEVEDORE* Background and main problems Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port PJSC (“NCSP”) is one of the Europe’s largest port operator in terms of cargo turnover and the leader in the Russian market. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (the “FAS”) found that NCSP abused its dominant position, by fixing and maintaining monopolistically high prices in 2015 for transshipment services of ore, fertilizers, containers, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, oil and petrochemicals in Novorossiysk seaport. Tariffs for the services were fixed in USD. It was alleged that RUB devaluation in 2014-2015 led to serious increase of tariffs by NCSP, while market