The Anti-Trust Service announced at the end of last week that it was launching an inquiry against Visa, suspected of violating Articles 5 and 6 of the Russian Federation's Financial Services Market Competition Law. The company has allegedly "abused its dominating position on the plastic cards market and set unjustified membership criteria hampering admission to payment systems."
On Friday, the Anti-Trust Service formed an ad hoc commission to conduct the inquiry. In keeping with the rules for proceedings on presumed competition law abuse, a date for hearing the case should be fixed within five days from the moment the decree establishing the commission was signed, the Service's press office said in a press release. Anti-Trust Service Deputy Director Andrei Kashevarov has been appointed as the commission's chair.
Speaking to reporters last week, Mr. Kashevarov said his agency held substantial evidence to prove that Visa International was in breach of Russia's Financial Services Market Competition Law. According to him, the company's share on that market is over 40 percent.
In a press release issued late Friday, Visa International said it had learned about the Anti-Trust Service's intention to launch the inquiry from media reports, but had so far received nor formal notifications. Given the fact, its comment would be inappropriate at this point, it said.
