After 10 days, the FAS will file a lawsuit against LG for manipulating smartphone prices

Within 10 days, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) will file an administrative lawsuit against the South Korean company LG. She is suspected of manipulating smartphone prices in Russia.

The case against the company is “literally at the final, technological stage of excitement,” FAS deputy head Andrei Tsarikovsky told RIA Novosti.

The intention of the department to institute an administrative case against LG became known on May 18. The reason for the audit was the complaint of the Russian. Tsarikovsky explained then that it was a matter of price manipulation on flagship and some other smartphone models.

FAS also had questions for other smartphone manufacturers. So, during the inspection of Samsung, no violations were found. And after the audit, Philips decided to transfer the case to the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), said Andrei Tenishev, head of the FAS cartel control department.

Representatives of the department began checking at the offices of LG and Philips in mid-February. The FAS received repeated complaints about price collusion in the sale of equipment. According to the inspectors, Philips prevented the investigation. In turn, the company itself claimed that Philips helps employees of the antitrust service.

In December 2016, the FAS sent requests to LG, Alcatel, Sony and Asus in connection with complaints of price collusion on smartphones of these manufacturers in Russia. Then the service became interested in the prices of Samsung and Phillips smartphones.

Also in December, the FAS filed a lawsuit against four Apple resellers due to failure to provide information on the implementation of iPhone smartphones. This included, among other things, two “daughters” of one of the largest digital retailers Merlion in Russia - LLC Kronar and LLC Haskel.

Administrative cases were instituted as part of the department’s trial on suspicion of price coordination in sales of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, Kommersant wrote .

FAS conducted an audit of such retailers as Citylink, M. Video, Eldorado, Euroset, Ozon, Re: Store, Svyaznoy, Yulmart, Media Markt, Holodnik.ru, DNS, Ion (Know-How), Technosila, as well as retail networks of mobile operators MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon. In addition, the service checked the official Apple store in the Russian Federation.