Successfully protected the client's interests before the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service in a case concerning the sale of ‘halal’ products

Lawyers of the Antimonopoly Practice represented a client against whom the Antimonopoly Service had initiated a case in connection with the sale of products labelled as ‘halal’. The antimonopoly authority believed that these actions constituted bad-faith competition because they were misleading consumers.
However, the client was using this labelling on lawful grounds: the client had passed a voluntary certification procedure and based on the results of it, a competent authority acknowledged that the products corresponded to ‘halal’ standards and could be labelled with this conformity mark. 

Our lawyers needed to prove that the client’s actions were lawful, were not causing damage to its competitors, were not misleading consumers and that investigating whether any products are harmful and whether they are ‘halal’ in nature falls outside the  antimonopoly authority’s jurisdiction.

Pepeliaev Group's team developed a defence strategy which included, among other items, obtaining additional evidence (expert opinions and results of a sociological survey) and prepared explanations proving that antimonopoly legislation had not been violated. Our lawyers also represented the client at meetings of the Commission of the Administration of the Federal Antimonopoly Service.

Labelling products with the ‘halal’ mark means placing on them a conformity mark of a voluntary certification system. There are many such systems in Russia and legislation is weak in regulating the operation of them. However, gaps in legislation should not enable the antimonopoly authority to exceed its jurisdiction and classify as bad-faith competition actions which are permitted by industry-specific legislation. In view of this, the project is indeed important for businesses and the legal system in general.