IMPOSITION OF FINES FOR INFRINGEMENTS OF UKRAINIAN ANTIMONOPOLY LEGISLATION, THEIR APPEAL IN COURT AND ENSURING OBSERVANCE OF RIGHTS OF UNDERTAKINGS: IMPACT OF THE ANTIMONOPOPOLY REFORM

Abstract

Abstract. The article is devoted to analysis of provisions of the Law of Ukraine No. 3295-IX dated 9 August 2023 (the “Law No. 3295-IX”), which launched the antimonopoly reform in Ukraine, and the legal acts of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (the “AMC”) adopted by the agency for development of provisions of the said law and their general assessment from standpoint of how and what to extent that they could affect the AMC’s bodies’ practice on imposition of fines for infringements of Ukrainian antimonopoly legislation and approaches of commercial courts towards review of these decisions, problematic issues in this part existing before the Law No. 3295-IX entered into force in terms of ensuring observance of rights of undertakings. Upon analysis of provisions of the above-mentioned legal acts, it is concluded that establishment by the Law No. 3295-IX of the requirement that the procedure for determining fines for infringements of antimonopoly legislation should be governed by the AMC’s legal act, and not recommended explanations, as was previously, direct provisions introduced by the AMC’s orders No. 16-rp dated 23 November 2023 updating the rules for review of cases on infringements of antimonopoly legislation and No. 22-rp dated 14 December 2023 approving the rules for determining fines for infringements of the said legislation, stating that the AMC’s bodies decisions on imposition of fines should be justified and that the AMC’s bodies should indicate circumstances to be taken into account when determining amount of fines in a submission with preliminary conclusions, thus giving defendants in the AMC’s bodies’ cases opportunity to comment on them, can be regarded as positive developments in part of ensuring observance of rights of undertakings within the framework of review of cases on infringements of antimonopoly legislation by the AMC’s bodies. The Law No. 3295-IX, the updated rules for review of cases on infringements of antimonopoly legislation as well as the rules for determining fines increase the likelihood that commercial courts will control legality of the AMC’s decisions on imposition of fines regardless of the decisions on recognition of commission of infringements more effectively and invalidate the former decisions if when adopting them the AMC’s bodies failed to comply with provisions of the AMC’s order No. 22-rp dated 14 November 2023 and other legal acts adopted by the AMC for development of provisions of the Law No. 3295-IX. To what extent the new regulation will have a positive effect in reality will be shown by law enforcement practice, which will begin to develop in the near future. It is noted that the Law No. 3295-IX does not touch the issue of changing the AMC’s bodies’ fining decisions by commercial courts at all. At the same time, ensuring that a court or other independent tribunal imposes or, at the person’s request, reviews any sanction imposed by competition authority is one of Ukraine’s obligations under the Association Agreement with EU, and, as argued in the article, appears to be the optimal way of organizing public enforcement of Ukrainian antimonopoly legislation. Creation of conditions to enable commercial courts to change amount of fines imposed by the AMC’s bodies in effective and consistent manner, when considering disputes where these bodies’ decisions are challenged, is one of the most important issues to be addressed within ongoing antimonopoly reform in Ukraine, which respectively actualizes further studies of relevant foreign experience.