Following the agreement, the Federal Moscow District Arbitration Court has postponed hearings on the legitimacy of antimonopoly regulations imposed on the construction materials company, which analysts say controls 46% of domestic cement production capacity, until July 7.
The service accused Eurocement in October of breaching competition law by raising prices by 70% from March 1, 2005, and ordered it to lower its prices "to a level of fair competitive pricing."
Eurocement appealed the decision, saying the antimonopoly service had failed to prove that the company dominated on the cement market, and had not taken into account dealer markups of 35%, which were also influencing the market.
The Moscow Arbitration Court rejected the company's appeal on January 10, and Eurocement filed an appeal with a higher court, which struck down the antimonopoly regulations on March 31. The antimonopoly service, in turn, appealed to the Federal Moscow District Arbitration Court.
Under the agreement, Eurocement pledges to abide by antimonopoly legislation and not to abuse its leading position on the market.
The service said in a news release: "Given these circumstances and the results of an additional study of the situation in the cement industry conducted by the antimonopoly service, the parties agreed on a complete settlement of their dispute."
"The fact that Eurocement Group's activities have had a certain positive socioeconomic effect was also taken into account. For example, Eurocement is willing to implement an investment program designed to ensure a comprehensive modernization of cement plants in 2005-2010, which is worth over 10 billion rubles ($372.11 mln)," the statement said.
