OREANDA-NEWS. On July 18, 2009 the Council of The Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation approved the draft Federal Law "On Introducing Amendments to Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation", which tightens criminal liability for violations of the antimonopoly legislation, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The violations in question include: preventing, restricting or eliminating competition by concluding competition-restricting agreements or engaging in competition-restricting actions; repeatedly abusing dominant position by fixing and maintaining monopolistically high prices; unreasonably refusing to sign or evading contracts; and restricting market entry; if such actions have resulted in inflicting heavy damages upon physical persons, organizations or the state or in gaining income on a large-scale.

The document provided for relief of criminal liability if a violator assisted in investigating the violations, compensated the inflicted damages or transferred the income, obtained as a result of the violator's actions, to the federal budget, and if the violator's actions did not constitute other crime.

Therefore, the Russian Parliament approved all three main initiatives of the "second antimonopoly package", including: the amendments to the Law "On Protection of Competition", amendments to the Code on Administrative Violations and amendments to Article 178 of the Criminal Code.