DOI: 10.7256/2454-0706.2024.4.70414

Abstract: The subject of the study is the state of criminalization of unfair competition in the Russian Federation. The article examines the relationship of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", which contains prohibitions on manifestations of unfair competition; the elements of crimes provided for in art. 128.1, 146, 147, 180, 183, 185.3 and 185.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, when analyzing objective and subjective signs of which elements of certain forms of unfair competition are seen, as well as law enforcement in the designated area; static data reflecting the current situation of identifying facts of unfair competition in the activities of the antimonopoly authority, law enforcement agencies, as well as aspects of interaction between the antimonopoly authority and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in the field of countering market manipulation and the misuse of insider information as separate manifestations of unfair competition. The methodology of the research is based on the provisions of the doctrine of materialistic dialectics, as well as a systematic approach, in particular, general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition were used – methods of system analysis, logical, comparative, formal dogmatic method, method of legal forecasting and classification. The novelty lies in establishing the fact of the correlation of crimes provided for in art.128.1, 146, 147, 180, 183, 185.3 and 185.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, with the prohibitions of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" based on the analysis of objective and subjective signs of the listed crimes, as well as the practice of sentencing in this area, in substantiating the possibility of using articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to combat manifestations of unfair competition, but also to improve criminal law norms in order to unify their content with the prohibitions of a special law. The conclusions are that the above analysis of the signs of the elements of crimes provided for in art. 128.1, 146, 147, 180, 183, 185.3 and 185.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, indicates a certain degree of their compatibility with the prohibitions of forms of unfair competition contained in the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", although they need to be improved. Appropriate legislative changes are advisable due to the public danger of unfair competition, the level of which may be no less than that of cartels recognized as a threat to the country's economy.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-7136.2024.4.70454

Abstract: The subject of the study is the problems of criminalization of unfair competition and differentiation of criminal liability for its implementation. In particular, the following issues are analyzed: the current state of criminalization of acts provided for in art. 128.1, 146, 147, 180, 183, 185.3 and 185.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the signs of which correspond to a certain extent to the prohibitions of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition"; legislative techniques in the design of their compositions; qualifying and especially qualifying signs, sanctions provided for the commission of crimes of the specified group; practices in the field of application of the listed articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, including in countering unfair competition. The purpose of the work is to identify the problems of criminalization of acts that have signs of unfair competition, violations of legislative technique, shortcomings in the differentiation of criminal liability for their commission, and identify ways to eliminate them. The research methodology is based on general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition, dialectical, logical, formal legal, comparative legal, hermeneutic research methods, as well as methods of legal modeling and legal forecasting are used. The scientific novelty lies in the analysis of the problems of constructing the elements of crimes provided for in art. 128.1, 146, 147, 180, 183, 185.3 and 185.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as a whole and in connection with their content with violations of the prohibitions contained in Articles 14.1-14.8 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", proposals on criteria for criminalization of acts, research qualifying (especially qualifying) signs and sanctions as means of differentiating criminal liability, as well as in proposals for their improvement. The conclusions are based on the absence in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of a clear mechanism for protection against unfair competition, ideas about changing legislation aimed at establishing specific grounds for criminal liability for unfair competition, unification of qualifying signs and the proposal as a sanction of penalties and their sizes uniform for the entire group of criminal forms of unfair competition, as well as the extension to crimes, provided for in Articles 180, 185.3 and 185.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the institution of confiscation.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0706.2024.3.70301

Abstract: The subject of the study is the issues of intersectoral differentiation of responsibility for encroachments on fair competition (hereinafter also anti–competitive crimes). The article identifies socially dangerous acts that formed a group of anticompetitive crimes and administrative offenses in this area; identifies aspects of the correlation of civil liability with criminal and administrative liability; analyzes the correlation of criminal law norms with administrative in relation to the grounds of responsibility for encroachments on fair competition, sanctions for their commission, rules of exemption from liability. The purpose of the work is to assess the current state, identify problems of intersectoral differentiation of responsibility for encroachments on fair competition, as well as to identify ways to solve them in the light of the adoption of a number of official documents of a strategic nature defining violations of antimonopoly legislation as a threat to economic security and the need to counter them. The research methodology is based on general scientific and private scientific methods, in particular, methods of system analysis, logical, comparative, formal dogmatic methods, the method of legal forecasting and classification. The scientific novelty lies in the study of the correlation of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with the Code of Administrative Offenses in order to establish the correspondence of the description of the compositions of anticompetitive crimes to the compositions of administrative offenses encroaching on fair competition and related compositions; determining the importance of civil liability in intersectoral differentiation; in assessing the state of the sanctions mechanism used for crimes and administrative offenses against fair competition, as well as diversified rules of exemption from liability for their commission; in the conclusions of the study of the intersectoral differentiation of responsibility for encroachments on fair competition. The conclusions concern the criminal law policy in the field of fair competition protection, as well as other related areas of government activity, it is necessary to eliminate the identified contradictions in the intersectorial differentiation of responsibility for violation of antimonopoly legislation.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-7136.2024.1.69703

Abstract: The subject of the study is certain areas of criminal law policy in the field of protection of fair competition, namely the current state of criminalization of acts restricting fair competition, the signs of which directly or indirectly correspond to violations of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", disadvantages of criminalization of such acts, as well as violations of the rules of legislative technique in their design, differentiation of criminal liability for committing such crimes, law enforcement in the field of criminal law counteraction to the restriction of fair competition. The purpose of the work is to identify the problems of criminalization of acts restricting fair competition in their relation to the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", the shortcomings of differentiation of criminal liability for their commission in the light of official recognition of the need to counter anticompetitive violations as a threat to economic security, and ways to eliminate them. The research methodology is based on general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition - system analysis, logical, comparative, formal dogmatic, legal forecasting, classification method. The novelty lies in the fact that the author: 1) a study of the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for the content of crimes in it, the signs of which are directly or indirectly related to violations of the prohibitions of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", an analysis of this ratio, as well as their reflection in law enforcement; 2) proposals on criminalization of collusion at auctions, depending on the subject of collusion; 3) given analysis of violations of legislative technique in the description of crimes, the signs of which may be associated with violation of the prohibitions of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition"; 4) it is concluded that new qualifying or especially qualifying signs are included as means of differentiating criminal liability for encroachments on fair competition, the shortcomings of existing sanctions are studied and ways to eliminate them are proposed. The conclusions are that in order to solve the tasks of countering anti-competitive acts as a threat to economic security, it is necessary to reconsider the approach to criminalizing acts that restrict competition, in particular, by clarifying the signs of their objective side, expanding the grounds for criminal liability for anti-competitive agreements, differentiating responsibility for their commission by clarifying qualifying and especially qualifying signs, improving the sanctions mechanism.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-7543.2024.1.70062

Abstract: The subject of the study is the issues of differentiation of criminal liability for crimes infringing on fair competition (hereinafter also anti–competitive crimes), as an element of criminal law policy in the field of protection of fair competition. In particular, the problems of identifying such a group of crimes, criteria for differentiating responsibility are studied using the example of analyzing both named and non-specified elements of crimes of certain qualifying signs of crimes, other means of differentiating responsibility for their commission, problems of building sanctions for crimes of the group in question.The purpose of the work is to assess the current state, identify problems of differentiation of criminal liability for crimes that infringe on fair competition, in the light of official recognition of the need to counter them as a threat to economic security, and identify ways to solve them. The research methodology is based on general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition – historical and legal, methods of system analysis, logical, comparative, formal dogmatic methods, the method of legal forecasting and classification, questionnaires. The novelty lies in: 1) in the study of the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in their relation to the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" in order to establish criteria for the allocation of a group of anti-competitive crimes and substantiate the differentiation of responsibility for their commission; 2) in proposals on the allocation as independent elements of crimes of certain types of violations of antimonopoly legislation for which criminal liability has not been established, as well as on the inclusion in a number of articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of a sign of committing a crime for the purpose of unfair competition, as differentiating responsibility for crimes involving illegal trafficking of intellectual property in the field of entrepreneurship; 3) in the analysis of problems of means of differentiating responsibility for encroachments on fair competition and in proposals for their improvement, 4) in the proposal to keep official records of a group of anti-competitive crimes in the field of the formation of static reporting on crimes committed in the structure of crimes of economic and corruption orientation. The conclusions are that the elimination of the problems of differentiation of criminal liability for anti-competitive crimes, as well as the official accounting of such crimes, is the key to the effectiveness of the entire criminal law policy in the field of fair competition protection.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-868X.2023.12.69411

Abstract: The subject of the study is the legal foundations of Russia's criminal law policy in the field of fair competition protection in their historical development, namely the sources of Russian legislation of the XVIII-XXI centuries, containing grounds for criminal liability for encroachments on fair competition, legal acts regulating competitive relations, as well as scientific research by scientists of the XIX-XXI centuries, including dissertations, scientific publications on aspects of legal regulation of competitive relations, criminal prosecution for encroachments on them.The purpose of the work is to identify the historically conditioned attitude of the Russian state towards encroachments on fair competition, their criminalization, penalization and differentiation of responsibility for their commission, systematization of crimes against fair competition, as well as to study the legislative technique used in the formulation of criminal law prohibitions.  The main method of research was the historical method, which allowed us to study the genesis of domestic criminal legislation, which provided for liability for encroachments on fair competition. The logical, comparative method, the method of system analysis, and classification were also used. The main result of the work is the conclusion about the usefulness of taking into account domestic legislative experience in determining the criteria for criminalizing acts that infringe on fair competition, systematizing crimes against fair competition, methods and techniques for formulating criminal law prohibitions against their commission. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the conducted analysis of domestic legislation can help in substantiating and making decisions of criminal and political significance in relation to understanding the system of crimes against fair competition, criminalization of socially dangerous acts directed against fair competition, their penalization, differentiation of responsibility for their commission, the application of existing criminal legislation and their improvement. The findings can be especially useful in legislative and scientific activities, as well as in the field of education.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0706.2023.12.69454

Abstract: The object of the study is the criminal law policy in the field of protection of fair competition, namely the criminalization of violations of antimonopoly legislation as its element. The subject of the study is normative legal acts providing for the protection of fair competition, legal acts justifying the priority directions of modern criminal law policy in the field of competition protection, principles of criminalization, statistical data of the antimonopoly authority and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, as well as scientific research, including dissertations, scientific publications on criminal law policy in general, issues criminalization, general theoretical criminal law phenomena, criminal liability for certain types of crimes. The purpose of the work is to study the criminalization of violations of antimonopoly legislation, taking into account the principles of criminalization developed in science in order to justify the introduction of a criminal law ban on their commission. The research methodology is based on general scientific and private scientific methods: system analysis, logical, comparative, formal dogmatic, historical methods, classification method. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that the analysis of the set of criminalization principles made it possible to establish the validity of criminalization of anticompetitive acts, on the basis of an economic approach, to conclude about the ratio of public danger of types of anticompetitive acts, potentially identical risks that they carry for the economic security of the country; by analyzing the practice of applying criminal law norms in the activities of law enforcement agencies, it was possible to identify the problems of law-making and law enforcement, which had not previously been carried out in the science of criminal law. The findings can be especially useful in legislative, scientific and educational activities. The result of the work is a conclusion about the validity of criminalization of anti–competitive acts, the need to improve the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, taking into account the prohibitions of a special law - the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition". At the same time, it was concluded that there are problems both in lawmaking and in law enforcement, which requires changing the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in order to increase the effectiveness of countering anti-competitive crimes.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-7136.2023.9.43993

Abstract: The subject of the study is the criminal law policy in the field of fair competition protection and competition policy, certain aspects of their correlation and problems of implementation, including the state of legislation and law enforcement. The purpose of the work is to identify the problems of interdependence of regulatory, protective, including repressive directions of state policy in the field of competition protection and to identify ways to solve them. The research methodology is based on general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition - system analysis, logical, comparative, formal dogmatic, historical and legal methods, statistical methods, questionnaires, legal forecasting. The work resulted in conclusions on the interdependence of competition and criminal law policy in the field of competition protection, proposals for improving the diversified mechanism for countering encroachments on fair competition. Scope of application of the results: legislative, scientific, educational activities. The novelty of the study is: 1) in the features of the conducted analysis of the statistics of anticompetitive violations, which is based on the author's study of sentences imposed in relation to crimes whose compositions have signs of violations of antimonopoly legislation; 2) in establishing the preventive and suppressive significance of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" in relation to anticompetitive crime, as an element of competition policy relevant to criminal law 3) in proposals to strengthen the preventive significance of a special law, improve the norms of criminal legislation, as well as the mechanism of interaction between antimonopoly and law enforcement agencies. The conclusions are that the criminal law policy in the field of competition protection depends on the directions of competition policy. The solution of the problems of interdependence should be aimed at strengthening the preventive meaning of a special law, clarifying the terms used to determine the grounds of criminal liability, criteria for differentiation of responsibility, as well as at eliminating gaps in the necessary criminal law repression, normative consolidation of the interaction of antimonopoly and law enforcement agencies.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-7136.2020.2.32254

Abstract: The subject of this research is the legislation and law enforcement in the area of criminal-legal protection of competition in the United States. The questions of counteracting encroachment upon competition alongside protection of rights of economic entities and consumers in case of unfair competition are one of the most relevant in the world. According to separate assessment, the U. S. antitrust legislation is recognized as most efficient. Its establishment, development, and application contributed to emergence of the generally accepted principles of protection of competition, such as per se and the rule of reason. Modern approaches towards restraint of violation of antitrust legislation determined the new trends in development of both, normative acts and judicial practice. Criminal legal protection of competition in the United States is characterized by strict prohibitions, high sanctions, presence of criminal-procedural authority of Antitrust Administration of the U. S. Ministry of Justice, as well as program of mitigation of responsibility for cartels. The goal of study lies in the analysis of legislation and law enforcement in the area of protection of competition in the United States for assessing the existing experience. The novelty consists in proposal of the author to take into account the U. S. experience with regards to countering encroachment upon competition, which can be valuable particularly in revision of the Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, improvement of the program of mitigation of responsibility for cartels, systematization of the compositions of crime related to unfair competition, cooperation of anti-monopoly agencies and law enforcement authorities. The research results can be used in the work of Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, as well as educational process and scientific activity.