Bid-rigging and Leniency program. The AMCU employees had a study visit to Germany

The leniency program as an effective tool for fighting cartels, abuses in the rail passenger transportation market, private lawsuits, as well as the specifics of conducting research and gathering evidence. Employees of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine had the opportunity to study these and a number of other issues thanks to a week-long study visit at the Bundeskartellamt (Bonn), organized by the EU Twinning project.

The training was attended by employees of the Legal Department, the Department for Research and Investigations of Fuel and Energy Complex Markets, the Department for Research and Investigation of Non-Production Markets, and the Department for Research and Investigation of Production sector, Pharmaceutical and Retail Markets.

According to the results of the training, the Deputy Director of the Legal Department, Alla Maksymenko, noted that the most interesting was the practical work of German colleagues regarding the implementation of the leniency procedure. For Ukraine, this issue is particularly relevant within the framework of the implementation of the first stage of the competition legislation reform, which presupposes the improvement of this instrument:

“Most cases in the Bundeskartellamt are investigated using the leniency tool. This enables our colleagues to significantly speed up the time of investigations, guarantee their success and save the department's resources. Implementation of this procedure is also closely related to conducting inspections. After receiving the application, department conducts them almost instantly, while providing the undertakings with information about such a tool as leniency”.

The training participants also studied the settlement procedure (its implementation is also foreseen within the framework of the first stage of the reform), interviews and the functioning of the system of anonymous appeals. It should be noted that the AMCU is currently completing work on improving the mechanism of anonymous appeals and it will be presented to the public in the near future.

The exchange of experience regarding investigation of concerted practices is important for the AMCU in the context of the implementation of competition legislation reform and European integration. Draft law No. 5431, which is fundamental in this area, is recommended for consideration in the second reading. Also, by-laws that should regulate, in particular, the future use of leniency and settlement tools by the AMCU during investigations are in work.