Kyiv, November 29, 2023
In connection with an interview with the Head of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine Pavlo Kyrylenko, published by a business publication, the Asset Recovery and Management Agency hereby states the following.
Establishing a direct correlation between the speed of consideration of merger applications by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) and the expansion of its powers will have serious consequences in the form of preventing timely revenues to the state budget.
According to the current legislation (the Law of Ukraine "On Protection of Economic Competition"), the review of merger applications takes from 1 to 3 months. For instance, on October 13, 2023, ARMA received a letter from the AMCU stating that the Head of the Committee - the State Commissioner, through Order No. 01/179-r dated September 29, 2023, initiated consideration of the case on obtaining a concentration of Carpathian Mineral Waters LLC. As of today, the AMCU has been considering the case for obtaining a merger clearance for 2 months.
The AMCU's desire to expand its powers cannot be a reason for delaying the review of merger applications.
The issue of granting the Committee the right to review cases related to ARMA tenders for the management of seized property is beyond the competence of this body and does not fall within the scope of public procurement. The initiative to expand the powers of the AMCU should not impede ongoing state processes. Therefore, ARMA's tenders are also beyond the AMCU's competence.
As of today, ARMA has approved a number of regulatory documents, including initiating amendments to CMU Resolution No 719/558 with the sole purpose of transparent asset management, their sale on the “Prozoro” and “Prozoro.Sale” platforms, and increasing revenues to the state budget.
The Agency expects the AMCU to perdorm its duties and exercise its powers in a timely manner. The task of filling the state budget requires joint coordinated actions from both state institutions aimed at speeding up the launch of the management of seized assets, rather than impeding it.
