Transneft faces legal difficulties, buying domestic products

As the Kommersant has got to know, the state’s policy on granting preferences to Russian suppliers and goods in procurement by state-owned companies has faced an unexpected problem. The Parliament Building’s orders to buy domestic products were sent to the state-owned companies in the form of directives, but neither the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), nor courts recognize such documents as official government acts. This can lead to the cancellation of the procurement because of illegal discrimination against foreign suppliers, and Transneft has already got into such a situation.

The Kommersant has been able to read the letter, which head of Transneft Nikolay Tokarev sent to the First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. The top manager asks "to clarify the possibility of the execution of the directives" dated July 17 and November 24, 2014 in accordance with the Law on Procurement (223-FZ). According to these directives, signed by Mr. Shuvalov, Transneft fixed in its procurement policy an pre-emptive right of the purchase of goods (metal products, agricultural and automotive equipment and others) from Russian suppliers, except the cases, when such products are not manufactures in Russia. But, according to the letter of Mr. Tokarev, the FAS and courts have found that such an interpretation is contrary to the law.