Armenian companies fined AMD 244 million by antitrust commission in 2012
05.06.2013,
20:56
In 2012, Armenia’s State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition fined companies in the amount of AMD 244 million, Artak Shaboyan, the head of the commission, said Wednesday in the National Assembly at the discussion of the 2012 government budget performance.
YEREVAN, July 5. /ARKA/. In 2012, Armenia’s State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition fined companies in the amount of AMD 244 million, Artak Shaboyan, the head of the commission, said Wednesday in the National Assembly at the discussion of the 2012 government budget performance.
This amount is 34% less that the figure of 2011, he said.
“It so happened that the amount of fines in 2012 was equal to the government budget spending on support of the State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition,” Shaboyan said.
He stressed that in 2010 fines totaled about AMD 30 million, while in the previous years 9 to 10 million.
Commenting on the recent report of the Control Chamber of Armenia, in which the chamber blamed the antitrust commission for slapping sometimes ungrounded amounts of fines, Shaboyan said that this problem is methodological in nature.
“The Armenian law has set criteria for levying fines taking into account repetitiveness of the wrongdoing, its impacts on competitive environment and other factors,” he said. “I still admit that these criteria is faulty. That’s why we submitted proposals to the government to specify fining criteria.” ($1 – AMD 416.02). -0-
