Antitrust / competition practice regulates the relationships, situations, and behavior models of business entities in certain ways but does not clearly limit the powers of controlling authorities and lacks specific legal certainty in the rules that should apply to business entities.
Additionally, a significant issue for businesses is the requirements of antitrust authorities and the size of the fines for violating antitrust laws. For example, the time frame set for responding to requests from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) may be inconsistent with the actual time required to properly prepare and submit the necessary information in full. Failure to submit information, submitting incomplete information, or providing false information to the AMC or its territorial division within the established time frame may result in fines of up to one percent of the business entity’s revenue (turnover) from the sale of products (goods, works, services) in the last reporting year before the year in which the fine is imposed.
Attention should also be given to aspects of creating new legal entities, mergers of business entities, or the joining of one entity to another, gaining control by one or more business entities over one or more entities or parts of entities, appointing management bodies, acquiring corporate rights, etc. If threshold financial indicators are met, these actions may be considered concentration and require obtaining the appropriate permit from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.
If such a permit is not obtained, fines of up to five percent of the business entity’s revenue (turnover) from the sale of products (goods, works, services) in the last reporting year before the year in which the fine is imposed will be levied.
The long-standing experience of the lawyers at Winnerlex Law Firm demonstrates that resolving any issues related to antitrust matters or protection against unfair competition should begin early with proper and timely planning for the business structure during mergers or acquisitions, forming commercial relationships with counterparties – buyers or sellers of certain goods through the provision of bonuses, discounts, deciding on participation in public procurement, and more. Working with professionals during these actions will help avoid mistakes that could later become the subject of close scrutiny by antitrust authorities and lead to significant financial losses due to harsh fines and lawsuits.
Winnerlex Law Firm provides comprehensive legal support in antitrust / competition practice to business entities in their efforts to be effective and competitive players in various commodity markets, while remaining within the legal boundaries of antitrust legislation.
Practice experience: 19 years
Specialization: litigation support, tax, customs and antitrust practices, agricultural law, IT and M&A
Practice experience: 21 years Specialization: support of economic, civil, labor and administrative disputes, energy
Practice experience: 11 years Specialization: tax, customs and corporate disputes, support of inspections, contractual activities
Practice experience: 6 years
Specialisation: business and civil law, tax and customs practice, corporate law, registration and reorganisation of business
Practice experience: 11 years Specialization: support of economic, civil, labor and administrative disputes, inspections
