RZD, subsidiaries to start regular activity reports online Aug 20
MOSCOW. Aug 11 (Interfax) - OJSC Russian Railways (RZD) and its subsidiaries, which command a market monopoly, along with other Russian companies with similar status, will starting August 20 have to regularly post reports on the main financial and production figures associated with their operations regulated by the government on their official websites.
Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said that on July 7 the Justice Ministry registered a FAS directive of April 12 setting out the form, timeframe, and interval for natural monopolies involved in railway freightage to publish information. "On August 10, Rossiskaya Gazeta published the order. [It] takes force 10 days after publication," the FAS statement says.
Companies will have to provide information annually within ten days following the confirmation of their financial reports. In addition to general indicators, the document directs the provision of production costs for services provided.
The order also mandates the correction within ten days of published information of a consumer-services nature if it is changed. For passenger-related data, this includes train arrival and departure times (including mail and baggage railcars), ticket window, store, and storage operating times, and also how stations are physically arranged. This information is to be made convenient and accessible in the Russian language, as well as the state languages of Russia's regions, at information booths, on wall boards, and in bulletins.
Regarding infrastructure, companies are to report every quarter ,within ten days of it ending, on the availability of technical access to their services, as well as (for RZD) about the course of the consideration of applications for connection to public routes. The information is to be broken down by month and detailed as to the carrying of cargo, passengers, and baggage. Information as to the opening of movement by one or another section is to be provided free of charge upon the receipt of a written request by the user of a service.
On an annual basis, within ten days after the confirmation of their annual report, companies are to provide information about the conditions for carrying out their regulated services. Each quarter, and within ten days after the confirmation of the results of competitive procedures, they are to report on how to acquire, the cost of, and the amount of necessary goods and services.
"Information is to be released not later than five days from the effective date of the order in the event of the publication on the monopoly's site and not later than 30 days in the event of publication in official print media," an addendum to the document says.
If a company does not comply with these rules or knowingly provides false information about its operations, it could be subject to 19.8.1 of Russia's administrative violations code, the FAS cautions. That could mean a fine of from 5,000 to 20,000 rubles for management and from 100,000 to 500,000 for the organization itself. Repeated violations would result in top management's disqualification for a period of from one to three years.