Thursday, 13 October 2011
Artak Shaboyan: “The applicable legal field enables effective handling of competition-related issues”
“We have managed to identify a multitude of threats owing to this year’s legislative amendments. The law on economic competition has been improved considerably, enabling new efficacious control tools and mechanisms,” Head of Antitrust Commission Artak Shaboyan told the news conference that followed today’s cabinet sitting. He advised that legal proceedings had been launched for economic misbehavior resulting in some 86 rulings passed over the past 9 months as compared to last year’s 30 rulings.
Referring to the penalties imposed, Artak Shaboyan stated in part: “About 230 million Armenian drams have been raised in fines and penalties during this year’s 9 months against 37 million in 2010, 10 million in 2009 and 9 million in 2008.” This figure will have reached the mark of AMD 150mn by late October as compared to last year’s 20 million.
The speaker said 19 decisions have been appealed this year by economic entities, with 8 court rulings passed in favor of the commission.
In conclusion, Artak Shaboyan advised that speculations were recorded in the eggs market during the past few years. For example, as early as in 2007 Lusakert poultry farm was penalized at the rate of AMD 40mn. As it continued offending the established rules, the company was inflicted another fine of AMD 100mn in 2011.
