Legal Regulation of Competitive Relations in the Transportation of Oil and Oil Products

The article is devoted to the issues of determining the legal signs of violations of antimonopoly legislation in the field of oil transportation. The author examines the judicial practice of dispute resolution on the application of sanctions for violations of antimonopoly legislation in the field of transportation of oil and petroleum products. In order to specify the signs of these violations, the article examines the classifications of competitive legal relations existing in the theory of competition law, the specifics of the subject composition of these legal relations, and the types of sanctions for violations of antimonopoly legislation in this area. The relevance of the study is due to the significant degree of monopolization of oil transportation, which is noted in research and confirmed by practical data. Monopolization of the field of activity in question dictates the need for detailed legal regulation of the procedure for concluding and executing oil transportation agreements. The article provides examples of judicial practice confirming the existence of the problem of ambiguous interpretation of the antimonopoly requirements of the legislation in relation to the relationship in question. The issue of distinguishing between the concepts of “abuse of a dominant position in the market”, “illegal coordination of economic activity” and “illegal vertical agreements” remains debatable. The author cites judicial practice on the issue of determining the legal criteria for unfair competition in setting the price of oil transportation and sale. The conclusion is substantiated that legislative regulation requires signs of “vertical” agreements in order to form a uniform practice of dispute resolution related to the application of sanctions for violations of antimonopoly requirements in the field of transportation of oil and petroleum products. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the signs of “vertical” agreements from the standpoint of their differentiation from such violations as the imposition of contractual terms. The judicial practice reflecting the approach of recognizing the imposition of contract terms as a type of “vertical” agreements is given, which, in the author’s opinion, does not fully correspond to the legal nature of these legal relations. The author comes to the conclusion that there is a lack of sufficient regulation of the conditions for the provision of oil transportation services. The issue of establishing a unified procedure for determining the order of oil supply in conditions of limited pipeline capacity needs a legislative solution.