From 24 February 2022, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (“AMCU”) has suspended the review of merger and antitrust notifications due to certain administrative barriers caused by the russian invasion of Ukraine.
At the same time, on 30 March 2022, the AMCU issued guidelines (“Guidelines”) allowing to file simplified notifications during martial law. The AMCU would have reviewed such notifications once martial law was lifted. However, the compliance with the Guidelines secured a reduced liability for the infringement of the standstill obligation. More details are available on https://avellum.com/en/news/law#!480.
On 9 June 2022, the AMCU adopted:
- the order on resuming the review of the notifications; and
- the guidelines on procedures pertaining to the resumption of such review.
Here are the key takeaways.
Resumed review of notifications
As of 9 June 2022, the AMCU resumes the review of all notifications in relation to which no decision was adopted before 24 February 2022. Notably, the applicants do not have to file any requests to the AMCU – the review will resume automatically.
New notifications filed as of 20 June 2022
As of 20 June 2022, the applicants cannot file simplified notifications under the Guidelines and must file standard notifications under the Ukrainian merger/antitrust regulations. In addition, the AMCU will not suspend the review of such notifications, and applicants will not be able to benefit from the reduced liability for the infringement of the standstill obligation under the Guidelines.
Yet, the Guidelines will apply to all notifications filled between 9 June 2022 and 17 June 2022.
Notifications filed between 30 March 2022 and 17 June 2022
As expected, the applicants who filled simplified notifications during this period would benefit from the Guidelines (including the reduced liability for the infringement of the standstill obligation), and the review of such notifications will remain suspended. However, the AMCU will resume these notifications if the applicants file a formal request.
