MOSCOW, September 25 (RAPSI) - The Federal Commercial Court of the Moscow District has upheld the Federal Antimonopoly Service's (FAS) decision to impose on Metro Cash & Carry a fine of 300,000 rubles, RAPSI learned in court on Wednesday.

According to the regulator, Metro Cash & Carry disputed the grounds for the inspection, which was held on government instructions within the competence of the working group monitoring the implementation of the federal law on trade regulation.

The FAS said in a statement that its head Igor Artemyev was instructed to hold inspections to check retailers' compliance with antimonopoly legislation.

However, the regulator had to abort its onsite inspection of Metro Cash & Carry after the company refused to provide the information which the regulator requested, the statement reads.

Under the Administrative Offences Code, failure to provide or delayed provision of information to the FAS as required by the law is punishable by a fine. Metro Cash & Carry was declared guilty of committing an administrative offence and was fined 300,000 rubles ($9,429), the FAS said.

Metro Cash & Carry is a trading division of the German METRO Group, a leading global cash and carry chain. It has 57 stores in Russia.

In November 2011, it was found guilty of violating a trade law after it pegged marketing costs to supplier turnover.

On July 12, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's decision to dismiss the complaint filed by Metro Cash & Carry against the regulator's ruling to inspect the retailer.