The Role of the Judicial System for the Development of Competition (The Antitrust Legislation and Its Implementation)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the influence of the judicial system on the competition development in Russia. The role of the judicial system in forming acceptable standards of proof in antitrust cases, in decreasing uncertainty in the antitrust law implementation is discussed. The issue of possible increase of the role of antitrust law private enforcement is also discussed. The article argues that the influence of the judicial system on antitrust law implementation and competition is ambiguous. On the one hand, there are some positive effects from decreasing uncertainty in the law implementation, rather high standards of proof in the majority of antitrust cases, really adversary character of the judicial process. On the other hand, the judicial authorities position on some issues, for instance qualification of tacit collusion, has turned for the worse. The serious problem is lowering the standards of proof in some politically committed cases.