Peculiarities of Applying for and Obtaining Approvals for Concentration and Concerted Actions during Martial Law in Ukraine
On 1 April 2022, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (the "AMC") issued its recommendations about submission by undertakings and review by the AMC of merger clearance and concerted actions applications during the martial law in Ukraine (the "Recommendations"). The Recommendations, inter alia, provide for the following key elements:
- the list of documents and data to be submitted along with merger clearance and concerted actions applications is significantly reduced for the period of martial law;
- applicants should submit the application and relevant annexes no later than 15 calendar days prior to completion of the planned concentration or concerted actions in writing at the AMC's postal address effective on the submission date (e.g., currently the AMC is located in Lviv), or via the AMC's e-mail using the applicants' electronic digital signatures; and
- if the parties to concentration or concerted actions carry out such actions without prior approval of the AMC (provided such approval is required), in case there are no grounds to prohibit the concentration or concerted actions at its completion, and the merger or concerted actions clearance application is submitted in accordance with the Explanations, then an amount of fine to be imposed by the AMC will not exceed UAH 51,000 (approx. EUR 1,604.80 as of 11 April 2022), or, in case there are no grounds to prohibit the concentration or concerted actions at the moment of their completion, but the relevant application is NOT submitted in accordance with the Explanations, then an applicable amount of fine will be UAH 340,000 (approx. EUR 10,698.69 as of 11 April 2022).
Furthermore, according to the Order of the AMC "On Some Issues Related to the Organisation of Activities of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine during Martial Law" No. №1-рн dated 3 March 2022, the consideration of merger clearance and concerted actions applications that have been submitted to the AMC but have not been decided upon by the AMC as of 25 February 2022, has been suspended.
How we can help:
- advising at all stages of obtaining the AMC's approvals of concentration and concerted actions;
- preparation and submission of merger clearance and concerted actions applications;
- analysis of group control relations and history of group formation for the purposes of merger and concerted actions clearances; and
- defense and representation in cases on violation of the legislation on protection of economic competition.
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Our experts: Yevheniy Deyneko, Andriy Olenyuk, Khrystyna Yermenchuk, Yuliia Sharabar.
Key words: Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, martial law, approval of concentration, approval of concerted actions, merger clearance, liability and penalties.
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