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Antimonopoly regulator initiates cases over failure to provide information on iPhone sales

MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has initiated administrative cases against four companies over the failure to provide information on Apple iPhone smartphone sales, the regulator reported Tuesday.

"FAS initiated administrative cases over the failure to provide information on Apple iPhone smartphone sales against Kronar, Haskel, Grimbor, Maksimum," the report said.

Particularly, Kronar Grimbor repeatedly ignored the regulator’s requests. Protocols will be made up on January 19, 2017. The fine ranges from 100,000 to 500,000 rubles, according to the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation, FAS said.

Earlier the monopoly service set the consideration of the case against Apple on coordination of prices for iPhone smartphones on February 7.

FAS earlier launched an inspection regarding several Russian electronics retailers due to suspicions of price-fixing agreements in sales of the latest iPhone models. Current iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus prices set by retailers are slightly different against each other and those listed in the Apple’s press release dated September 28, 2015, which gives reasons to believe that retailers did not determine iPhone prices independently, FAS press service said.

The antitrust watchdog requested information from 16 retailers, among them Euroset, Eldorado, Svyaznoy, re:Store, Ozon.ru, Citilink, Media-Markt, Mobiland, Megafon and Vimpelcom (Beeline brand), as well as the official online Apple store.

The investigation revealed that the majority of resellers had set similar prices for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus since the start of their official sales in Russia and maintained them for a certain period of time, FAS said. Similar situation was revealed with other iPhone models.

Apple denied accusations saying it does not force iPhone prices on retail networks. Resellers set their own prices for Apple products both in Russia and around the world, the company said.