Ukrainian Bar Association

UBA Competition Committee Round Table

The UBA Competition Committee held an open round table called “Legal principles when applying fines by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine” on 13 August 2015. The event was aimed at discussing the AMCU Draft Advice Explanations regarding application of provisions of parts two and five of Article 52 of the On Protection of Economic Competition Act of Ukraine; parts one and two of Article 21 of the On Unfair Competition Protection Act. More specifically the participants discussed the procedure of settlements of fees for infringing legislation on protection of economic competition. The AMCU had previously invited the public to suggest comments regarding the Draft. The Draft has been developed in accordance with the obligations of the introduced EU — Ukraine Association Agreement regarding adoption and publication of a document to interpret the approaches of the AMCU to define the amounts of fines. And the Draft assumes such systems of calculation of the amounts of fines as accepted by the European Commission and competition bodies of countries like Great Britain and France. The Draft provides for taking into consideration the scale and gravity of an infringement; it includes a provision on extenuating and aggravating circumstances (when determining the final sum) as well. Thus, on the basis of the UBA, representatives of the AMCU, the UBA, the American Chamber of Commerce, the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce and the Association for Resistance for Unfair Competition represented detailed proposals to the document. Following the round table, all the inherent proposals were delivered to the AMCU.

UBA Agrarian Law Committee Round Table

On 19 August 2015 the UBA Agrarian Law Committee held a well-timed round table dedicated to the new system of foodstuffs safety in Ukraine. The new safety system will be launched on 20 Septem- ber 2015 in accordance with the new version of the On Basic Principles and Requirements for Safety and Quality of Foodstuffs Act of Ukraine of 1 January 2015. The new regulation is built on the principles and requirements of foodstuffs safety that are in effect in EU countries. Synchronically with a substantial reduction in the number of administrative procedures, the provisions of the new version lay down rules for more conscientious approaches to business activity and tougher amenability. Liudmyla Solop, counselor of Gryphon Investment Consulting Group, pointed to such cardinal changes as optimization of licensing procedures, establishment  of integrated controlling body and new functions for inspectors. To emphasize one of the main ideas of the last version: the new system for foodstuffs safety that is set to be implemented, is founded on the principles Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). One key element of the system is the principle of tracking all the links in the foodstuffs production chain. Oleksandr Polivodskyy, partner of law firm Sofiya, spoke about the relevant international legislation, in particular WTO agreements and the European system of government regulation. Mr. Polivodskyy pointed to the high role of voluntary standards in European self-regulation of the market. Oksana Novokhatnya, chief specialist-veterinary of the veterinary sanitary expertise and foodstuffs safety department of the State Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service of Ukraine, reported on the state of reform of the government system of safety control and prospects regarding further legislative work.