Legal qualification of anticompetitive agreements of business entities

Abstract

The following article deals with the issues of legal qualification of anticompetitive agreements of undertakings in the market of the medical services. Depending on the terms, such agreements may be qualified as avoidable transaction on the basis of clause 2 of Articles 168, 169 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. According to Article 180 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, an anticompetitive agreement, taking into account its content, may be invalidated in the part that this agreement is contrary to the law. The author comes to the conclusion that the agreement, the content of which violates the direct prohibitions established by the antitrust law, can be considered as “conditionally invalid”. Restriction of competition as a consequence of the implementation of this agreement, as well as the absence of circumstances in which the agreement can be recognized as permissible, is assumed. If it is proved that there are no circumstances that can serve as grounds for declaring the agreement invalid (insignificant deal; avoidable transaction or contentious transaction), the agreement is recognized as permissible. Some types of such agreements, means of protection the rights and legitimate interests of undertakings and other persons violated by an anticompetitive agreement are considered.

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