n brief
On 12 September 2023, the President of Ukraine signed Law No. 5431 “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Improve the Activities of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine” (“Law“), which launched a reform of Ukrainian competition law. The Law will enter into force on 1 January 2024.
The Law was developed together with competition law experts from the EU in line with the European Union-Ukraine Association Agreement. Adopting and implementing the Law is the first stage of the competition law reform, aimed at strengthening the powers of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) and bringing Ukrainian competition law and the AMC’s activities closer to the legal system of the European Union.
Key takeaways
The Law introduces a number of amendments to Ukrainian competition law, among which the following should be singled out:
- Changes to obtaining the AMC’s approval for concentration and concerted action.
- Introduction of a detailed procedure of inspections by the AMC.
- Introduction of settlement procedures and improvements to the leniency procedure.
- Introduction of joint and subsidiary liability for the payment of fines imposed by the AMC.
- Strengthening of the institutional powers of the AMC.
- Establishment of a maximum term for reviewing competition law infringement cases (within three years of the date of the resolution initiating the competition law infringement case, along with the possibility of an extension for no more than two years).
- Introduction of a state register of legal entities that were held liable for anticompetitive concerted actions related to distorting the results of tenders, auctions and bids.
A significant number of the Law’s provisions were developed in line with the provisions of European Union Directive 2019/1,1 particularly the provisions on the inspection procedure.
In more detail
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