Federal Antimonopoly Service proposals for Russian Railways aimed at getting monopoly out of competitive market segments - FAS chief

MOSCOW. Sept 30 (Interfax) - The Federal Antimonopoly Service's (FAS) proposals regarding Russian Railways (RZD) are intended to get the monopoly out of competitive segments of the market, the head of the regulator, Maxim Shaskolsky told Interfax on the sidelines of Russian Energy Week.

"We propose to separate monopoly from non-monopoly types of services. A monopolist should not participate in operations on markets where there is competition," Shaskolsky said when asked if the FAS is really proposing to prohibit RZD from participating and having stakes in companies that work on the market.

He also confirmed that the regulator has prepared a draft federal project to develop competition that proposes to reduce railway transport natural monopolies' stakes in companies that operate on competitive markets to zero, or to 8.5% in the conservative version. "Yes, that's right," Shaskolsky said when asked about this.

He also said that control over railway infrastructure might be transferred to the Federal Railway Transport Agency.

It was reported earlier that the authorities are discussing a significant change in the conditions of RZD's work in competitive segments of the Russian transport market. This was stated in a description prepared by the FAS of the objectives of the new Development of Competition federal project, the text of which was seen by Interfax.

Specifically, the regulator proposed to restrict or completely prohibit the railway monopoly from holding equity stakes in transport operators, logistics centers and forwarding companies. It proposed to either have monopolies completely divest their stakes in such companies or, in the conservative version, reduce them to 8.5% overall.

The document also proposed to transfer responsibility for oversight from the owner of railway transport infrastructure to an authorized government agency.