According to a report by the BBC, US tech giants, Apple, have today been found guilty of price-fixing by Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). The company has reportedly been arranging for retailers to co-ordinate their prices of the Iphone 5 and Iphone 6 models.
According to the Financial Times, it was Apple’s Russian subsidiary who illegally ordered the price-fixing, where non-compliance by the retailers would have led to the termination of their contracts.
When the investigation was announced in August, Apple denied the charge and claimed that the prices for products in all markets across the world were set by the retailers themselves. But after a seven month investigation ended the FAS in a statement said that the price-fixing had now ended, while Apple is yet to comment.
The deputy head of the FAS, Andrey Tsarikovsky, said that once the full decision is published at the end of the month, Apple will have three months to challenge the decision in court. Tsarikovsky added that Apple actively co-operated with the FAS during the investigation and that they ensured that all the “necessary measures to eliminate violations of the law” had been taken.
Staff Writer
