The Role of the Judiciary in Providing Standards of Evidence in Antitrust: The Experience of Russia

The purpose of this study is to outline the determinants of decision-making in Russian commercial courts with regard to appeals aimed at annulment of accusatory decisions of the antitrust authority in Russia. The study revealed that the Russian judicial system in the context of the application of the rules of antitrust policy, traditionally referring to institutionally transitional countries, has a number of features that distinguish it from other countries from a similar group. At the same time, explaining the differences in the role of the Russian judicial system in antitrust law enforcement with the specifics of a similar institutional environment of other countries, it is important to take into account not only the generally accepted beliefs about the critical lack of independence of judges in relation to state bodies or economic competencies, but also take into account that the observed results can also be explained by the peculiarities of transitional justice, including continuous improvement of competition law, changing the order of the standards of evidence, as well as the lack of experience of administrative authorities. It is also important to emphasize the special importance of the specialization of the judiciary in the practice of dealing with violations of the antitrust legislation from the point of their specifics, which requires a comprehensive economic expert assessment, while thinking about improvement of the quality of the institutional environment for the legal regulation of antitrust policy.