On 24 February 2022, the Parliament of Ukraine, in connection with the large-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, approved a decree of the President of Ukraine on the imposition of martial law in the country. The military aggression has significantly affected the activities of most public authorities in Ukraine, including the Ukrainian…

Background Significant amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On protection of economic competition” came into force on 17 December 2017. The changes are aimed at prohibiting transactions involving persons included in the Ukrainian sanctions list (the Sanctions list). The Sanctions list was introduced by the Law of Ukraine “On Sanctions” following the annexation of Crimea…

More than a year has passed since the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) completed its first investigations into the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market. However, it has recently struck another blow yet again and, one should say, with renewed vigour. The first companies that fell under antitrust sanctions were Alcon and distributors (Alcon case). The AMCU passed…

The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (‘the AMCU’) has recently completed complex research into the national tobacco market. The market research was triggered by the investigation against ‘TEDIS’ (‘Company’), which has a monopoly on the market of cigarette distribution in Ukraine. The study started back in 2015 and resulted in the Company being fined for approximately…

  Given the very low notification thresholds in Ukraine, which caught even foreign-to-foreign transactions that in the majority of cases raised no antitrust concerns and did not have local nexus, a number of parties skipped local notification and breached the law. In some cases the agency has pursed companies for failure to notify, and these…

On August 19, 2016 the new Merger Regulation was adopted in Ukraine. This step is the next improvement after increasing notification thresholds aimed at improving merger control regime effectiveness in Ukraine. The key novelties of the new Merger Regulation include: introduction of requirements to applications within the simplified procedure adopted in May 2016; introduction of…

On March 18, 2016 the new law increasing notification thresholds (former draft law 2168a) was officially published. The law is expected to become effective on May 18, 2016. The current financial thresholds test has been substituted by the two new alternative ones (either A or B): Current financial thresholds to be met cumulatively (1+2+3) Expected…

Timur Bondaryev and Lana Sinichkina, Arzinger   On January 26, 2016 Ukrainian Parliament adopted the law amending Ukrainian merger control rules. The law increased notification thresholds which have been effective for over 14 years after they were introduced in 2002. The current financial thresholds test is substituted by the two new alternative ones (either A or…

On 15 September 2015, the Ukrainian competition authority, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (the AMCU), adopted Recommendations on approaches for calculation of fines for competition law infringements (the Recommendations). This long-awaited step is the result of active public discussions initiated by the AMCU and by the Ukrainian legal professionals’ community. This event is of great…