August 12 2003, 15:22 APK-Inform

Traders will be fined 10 pc of their last year's income should they stop grain imports, warns antimonopoly committee

Ukrainian grain association has recently published a statement about probable stop of grain imports to Ukraine because of obscurity of grain prices in domestic market. In this connection Ukrainian Anti-Monopoly Committee has made a declaration through its press-service that in accordance with Ukrainian legislation such kind of joint activities, aimed at cessation or limitation of grain imports, or even agreements reached between companies with such an aim, may be qualified by the Committee as coordinated anti-competitive actions.

The Committee has emphasised that, according to the Law of Ukraine "About Protection of Economic Competition", such unlawful activities are penalised by a fine in the amount of 10 percent of the company's income over the previous year. In this, each of the participants of the coordinated actions is subject to the fine.

Commenting on statement of the grain traders, the Anti-Monopoly Committee Chief Oleksiy Kostusev has said: "In today's situation all the market participants ought to be most measured and prudent in their actions. The Anti-Monopoly Committee calls on the entrepreneurs to restrain from activities, which are not only breaking rules of fair competition, but can entail grave social consequences. At the same time, we are taking all our responsibility to warn anybody who will neglect the requirements of the competition legislation that they will be strictly punished".