The Federal Antimonopoly Service has issued warnings to Ozon and Wildberries: Marketplaces must not impose promotions on retailers
What happened?
According to a press release published on the Federal Antimonopoly Service's website, the marketplaces set discounts on goods at the expense of sellers without their prior consent. The agency considered that these actions may constitute an abuse of **dominant position **on the Internet trading market. In accordance with clause 3 of part 1 of article 10 of Federal Law No. 10. 1 part 1 of Article 10 of Federal Law No. 135-FZ ‘On Protection of Competition’, persons occupying such a position are prohibited from imposing unfavourable conditions on counterparties. The companies were asked to create a transparent mechanism of discount campaigns for sellers, guaranteeing voluntary participation.
In case of non-compliance with the requirements, the service promises to conduct an inspection, following the results of which companies may be held administratively liable.
The moratorium on inspections of IT companies is over
The news is noteworthy because earlier the Federal Antimonopoly Service, although acknowledging the receipt of a large number of complaints against marketplaces, refused to hold marketplaces liable, referring to the Government Decree No. 448 of 24 March 2022. It should be recalled that the said Resolution established a ban on conducting control measures against accredited IT companies. The ban ceased to be effective as of 1 January 2025, thus, the agency again received the right to bring violators to responsibility.
Draft Law on the Platform Economy
It is also worth noting that in the draft law ‘On the platform economy in the Russian Federation’, about which we have already written, the issue of granting discounts is devoted to Article 8 ‘Granting discounts on goods, works and services’. According to the provisions of the article, marketplaces will be obliged to send a notification to sellers about a promotion at least 14 days before its start. And the seller's silence in response to the notice will not be considered consent.
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