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In brief<\/strong><\/p>\n At the end of\u00a0March, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (the “AMC”) published its Annual Report for 2022 (the “Report”).<\/p>\n The full-scale russian invasion caused significant damage to Ukraine’s economy. Thus, in 2022, the AMC focused on markets that are strategically important for the country, including the markets for: (i) electricity, (ii) natural gas, (iii)\u00a0light oil products, (iv)\u00a0housing and communal services, (v) construction materials (i.e., cement), (vi)\u00a0medicines, (vii)\u00a0real estate, (viii)\u00a0information technologies, (ix) retail, and (x) other industry sectors.<\/p>\n Key takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n As usual, the Report contains examples of the previous year’s most prominent cases and emphasizes the upcoming year’s priorities. For this alert, we picked some trends and highlights from the Report in the following categories:<\/p>\n I. Merger clearances\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2022, the AMC received 530 applications for concentration approval, which is 349 applications fewer than last year. The main highlights are:<\/p>\n Most approvals were granted in the markets for: (i) forestry, processing and sale of wood (39.6%<\/strong>), (ii) land management and real estate services (14.5%<\/strong>), (iii) agro-industrial complex (9.5%<\/strong>), (iv)\u00a0industry (7.7%<\/strong>), and (v) fuel and energy (6.9%<\/strong>).<\/p>\n II.\u00a0Concerted actions approvals\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2022, the AMC reviewed 41 applications for concerted actions (compared to 50 applications in 2021) and approved 32 of them (78%<\/strong>).<\/p>\n Most approvals were granted in the following markets: (i) land management and real estate services (18.8%<\/strong>), (ii) industry (18.8%<\/strong>), (iii)\u00a0healthcare, medicines and medical devices (15.6%<\/strong>), (iv) agro-industrial complex (12.5%<\/strong>), and (v)\u00a0fuel and energy (6.3%<\/strong>).<\/p>\n III. Competition law infringements\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2022, the AMC issued decisions and recommendations with regard to 611 <\/strong>competition law infringement cases. Anticompetitive concerted actions constituted 46.6%<\/strong>\u00a0of all infringements that took place in 2022, with procurement result distortions accounting for 96.7%<\/strong>\u00a0of all concerted actions.<\/p>\n The biggest amount of terminated competition law infringements related to the following markets: (i)\u00a0housing and communal services (19%<\/strong>), (ii)\u00a0construction and construction materials (16.7%<\/strong>), (iii)\u00a0agro-industrial complex (11.5%<\/strong>), and (iv)\u00a0fuel and energy (10%<\/strong>).<\/p>\n The vast majority of the AMC’s decisions on unfair competition consisted of consumer misrepresentation to gain an advantage over a competitor. This is mainly because (i) this type of infringement covers pieces of information placed on the products’ labeling or advertising, and (ii) the AMC has the power to initiate proceedings in respect of such infringement on its own initiative.<\/p>\n IV. Fines and recommendations\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In the previous year, the AMC adopted a significantly fewer number of decisions regarding competition law infringements (517 decisions in 2022\u00a0compared to 1,344 decisions in 2021). Therefore, the total amount of fines imposed was only UAH 557.9 [1]<\/a> million (compared to UAH 7.237 [2]<\/a>\u00a0million in 2021).<\/p>\n The fines imposed in 2022\u00a0consisted of fines for anticompetitive concerted actions (66.7%<\/strong>), unfair competition\u00a0(15.3%<\/strong>), information infringements (13.6%<\/strong>), abuse of dominant position (2.4%<\/strong>), and concentration and concerted actions without obtaining the AMC’s prior approval (2%<\/strong>).<\/p>\n In 2022, the AMC only issued 10 recommendations aimed at strengthening competition (97.9%\u00a0less than in 2021).<\/p>\n It should be noted that the deterioration of the security situation, caused by the full-scale russian invasion in Ukraine, had a negative impact on the AMC’s work, cooperation with other authorities and ability to interact with the affected persons. In addition, the proactivity of businesses decreased significantly, which affected the number of applications and recommendations.<\/p>\n V.\u00a0Priorities for 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n [1] Equivalent to USD 15 million\u00a0or EUR 14 million\u00a0according to the exchange rate of the National Bank of Ukraine (the “NBU<\/strong>“), effective as of 31 December 2022. [2] Equivalent to USD 265 million\u00a0or EUR 234 million\u00a0according to the exchange rate of the NBU, effective as of 31 December 2021.<\/em><\/p>\n Contacts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
In more detail<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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