Who Benefi ted from the New Trade Law

The paper is aimed at assessing the regulatory impact of the new trade law (2009). A standardized data survey is used for revealing market sellers that may gain from the introduction of the trade law. 512 filled questionnaires were collected from the managers of chain stores and their suppliers in five big cities of Russia in November-December 2010. Federal Anti-Trust Service statistics is used to examine the scale and dynamic of regulatory impact on the trade law enforcement. The author concludes that the initial effects of the trade law do not correspond to the declared goals. At the same time, the market sellers confront with the additional transaction costs of administrative control, prosecutions and fines due to the extended prerogatives of the anti-trust authorities.