Kyiv Commercial Court rejects Gazprom claim challenging ACU decision

Thursday, April 14, 2016 - 16:20 (EEST) Section: Latest news

The Commercial Court of Kyiv has rejected Gazprom`s claim to contest a decision of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (ACU) to fine the Russian energy giant, due to it being improperly , the court`s press service reported.
Gazprom has appealed to the Commercial Court of Kyiv to contest the ACU decision to fine Gazprom UAH 86 billion for the abuse of monopoly position in the Ukrainian natural gas transit market.
”According to a decision of the Kyiv Commercial Court of 13.04.2016 in case No. 910/6797/16, the claim filed by PJSC Gazprom to appeal the decision of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to impose a fine to the tune of UAH 85 billion has been returned without consideration,” the press service reported, adding that Gazprom`s claim was not duly executed. The company did not provide evidence of the authorities of a person that signed the claim.
As UaPosition reported earlier, in late April of 2015, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk requested that the ACU launch a probe into Gazprom`s activities in the Ukrainian market that were said to undermine the Ukrainian economy, as the company ”was operating under discriminatory and in fact non-competitive conditions.”
According to data provided by the Justice Ministry, Energy Ministry, the ACU and also Naftogaz, Ukraine has lost opportunity to trade gas on its western border due to actions of Gazprom. Neither is Ukraine able to make full use of the Slovakian route for gas imports, as Russian gas monopoly has taken control of all gas transportation facilities. Also, having blocked virtual reverse flows from Slovakia, Gazprom has deprived European suppliers of a potentially significant share in the Ukrainian market.
For its part, the European Commission on April 22 formally charged Gazprom with abusing its dominant market position in Central and Eastern European gas markets in breach of the EU antitrust rules.
At the same time, Ukraine appealed to EU partners to jointly conduct an antitrust investigation and to establish ”the fact of monopolism by the Russian Gazprom company not only in the European Union, but also in Ukraine.”