Programs for the Release and Mitigation of Responsibility for Participation in Cartels in the Russian Federation and the European Union

Abstract

The paper provides a comparative analysis of the current level of development of programs for the release and mitigation of responsibility for participation in cartel agreements in the Russian Federation and the European Union (at the level of the entire Union). In relation to Russia, the author analyzes the relevant articles of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation and the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, methodological recommendations of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation, as well as judicial practice and decisions of some Offices of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia. In relation to the EU, the author deals with the Regulatory Letter of the European Commission on exemption from fines and reduction of its size in cases of cartels, as well as the Guidelines on methods for calculating fines imposed in accordance with Art. 23 (2) (a) of Regulation No. 1/2003. The analysis reveals a number of fundamental differences between the two programs (for example, the EU does not provide for criminal liability for business entities in the EU, and the list of grounds for mitigating administrative responsibility in the Russian Federation is wider than in the EU). However, according to the author, the general development trend is forming in a single direction.