In a hearing today, the Federal Arbitrage Court of Moscow Region declined to confirm the amicable agreement tat had been reached between the Federal Antimonopoly Service (“FAS”) and OJSC Eurocement Group in June 2006. The reason for the non-approval by the Court was that the FAS is not empowered to conclude such amicable agreements.

“The Appellate Court refused to confirm the amicable agreement between FAS and Eurocement referring to the fact that the antimonopoly body is not empowered to conclude such amicable agreements. It is hard for us to understand the reason for this decision,” declared Igor Artemiev, the Head of the FAS when commenting on the judgment of the Federal Arbitrage Court of Moscow Region.

The Head of the FAS reminded the Court that it had confirmed amicable agreement between the antimonopoly body and commercial entities on numerous occasions before. The FAS powers are provided directly by the articles 190 and 140 of the Arbitration Procedural Code of Russia and article 12 of the Law “About competence and restrictions of monopolistic activity in the goods’ markets”. “It seems that contradictory and incompatible practice is present in the court,” added Mr. Artemiev.

Following a joint motion by the parties involved, the Court adjourned the proceedings for the settling of the dispute until August 25.

“The dispute between the FAS of Russia and our client, Eurocement Group, was settled on June 30 by an agreement that enabled the investment programme for the cement industry that is vital for growth of construction productivity in Russia. We are now waiting for the procedural details to fall into place,” declared Dimitry Afanasiev, partner of EPAM, the law firm that represents the interests of Eurocement Group.