MOSCOW, September 27 - RAPSI, Alyona Yegorova. A court of appeals postponed until October 24 the hearing of an appeal against a court decision upholding the watchdog's conclusions about a cartel agreement between salt companies, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) on Tuesday.

Belorusskaya Prodovolstvennaya Kompaniya, Mozyrsalt and Evrotrast Ekspo requested the court to invalidate the Federal Antimonopoly Service's decision on the companies' collusion to eliminate competition.

The commercial court dismissed the lawsuits by filed by the Belorusskaya Prodovolstvennaya Kompaniya and Mozyrsalt on July 27. It dropped the case against Evrotrast Ekspo on the same day because it entered into a contract with the federal service pursuant to which it admitted that it had violated the law.

The service reduced the fine against the company to $3,100 from $74,500. Evrotrast Ekspo confirmed that it violated the law in court.

The court did not specify why the hearings were postponed.