MOSCOW, February 28 - RAPSI. An appeals court has upheld the commercial court's decision to revoke the antimonopoly watchdog's resolution that the Raspadsky coal company abused its position on the coking coal market, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).

The Moscow Commercial Court held for Raspadsky coal in its petition and revoked the antimonopoly service's decision on November 7. The court heard the petition behind closed doors upon the claimant's request. An appeals court dismissed an appeal filed by the antimonopoly service.

The court noted that the mine produced a credible explanation for all alleged price manipulations in its relations with domestic and foreign companies. Meanwhile, the court decided that the watchdog failed to prove the contrary.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service said in March 2011 that the Raspadsky coal, the Evraz Holding, Yuzhkuzbassugol and the Evrazresource Trading House abused their dominant market positions.

The watchdog then opened cases against several managers of the Evraz Holding, Raspadskaya and Severstal due to differences between the domestic and export prices on coking coal.

The price difference for coking coal consumers varied from 20 to 48 percent. At the same time, the coal supplies could not provide a well-founded argument to justify the price difference.

Raspadskaya is a leading coking coal manufacturer in Russia. Raspadskaya integrates coal mining and enrichment enterprises in the Kemerovo region, Russia.