On October 1, 2013 the Federal Commercial Court of the North-Caucasian Okrug upheld the rulings of the lower-level authorities that had invalidated the decision of FAS of Russia Rostov Directorate. The local antitrust authority had found METRO Cash & Carry to be creating a discriminatory environment among suppliers because it priced its services pro rata to sales.
Note that this was fairly standard practice between suppliers and retailers until made illegal in the FAS of Russia Guidelines entitled "Antitrust Regulation of Commerce", published early in 2011. Many market players, including international retail chains, rejected such philosophy, which gave rise to a raft of lawsuits brought against the antitrust authorities in various regions.
The Firm's lawyers were successful in arguing before all three judicial instances that such pricing methodology is not discriminatory and that the suppliers and the retail chain are compliant with the principle of freedom of contract enshrined in civil law.
The case was litigated by a KIAP partner, attorney at law Ilya Ischuk.