ANOTHER VICTORY IN THE NORTHERN COMMERCIAL APPEALS COURT IN THE DISPUTE WITH THE AMCU

By a decision of the Northern Commercial Court of Appeals dated November 13, 2024, the illegality of the decision by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) to find two companies guilty of engaging in anti-competitive concerted actions while participating in public procurement was confirmed.

As a reminder, in October 2023, the AMCU’s contested decision fined the two business entities 26,837,049 UAH and 27,356,409 UAH, respectively.

Each of the companies, disagreeing with this decision, appealed it to the Kyiv Commercial Court, which subsequently upheld the claims and declared the AMCU’s decision invalid.

Previously, by a decision of the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal dated October 1, 2024, the AMCU’s appeal against the trial court’s decision to grant our client’s claim to invalidate the aforementioned AMCU decision was dismissed.

On November 13, 2024, an appeal hearing was held in the case of another business entity, which was also accused by the AMCU of engaging in anti-competitive conduct in conjunction with our client, who was involved in the case as a third party.

Once again, our law firm was able to prove in court that the Antimonopoly Committee’s claims were unfounded and to protect the company’s interests.

We have now obtained two court decisions that have become final and binding, which found that the imposition of multimillion-dollar fines on the bidders was unfounded.

In both disputes, the courts of first and appellate instance agreed with the attorneys’ arguments that the actions of the public procurement participants were not coordinated and therefore could not have resulted in a violation of the legislation on the protection of economic competition.

The contested decision by the AMCU could have led to a complete halt in the operations of two business entities that have been recognized market leaders for decades.

We would also like to note that, following the successful appeal, the companies’ right to participate in public procurement has been restored, and any restrictions related to the AMCU’s contested decision have been lifted.

Barristers Associate Partner Yuri Radzievsky and Barristers Attorney Vitaliy Chayun worked on the case.