The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (the “AMC”) has been extremely active since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. Investigations have been launched into parallel price increases (i) by pharmacies and wholesale suppliers of healthcare products and (ii) by food retailers and their wholesale suppliers of vegetables and long-life foodstuffs. Another hotly debated COVID-related case concerns the spike in prices for airline tickets by Ukraine International Airlines, which more than doubled prices on certain routes during the last days before suspension of air travel to and from Ukraine.
Also, the first case was opened concerning misleading claims that antiseptic agent “has an effect on all complex viruses, including coronaviruses”. In addition, the AMC issued preventive recommendations to the three largest mobile phone operators in Ukraine to prevent simultaneous or co-ordinated price increases for tariff plans and/or deterioration in the quality of mobile phone services.
For more details on the AMC steps in response to the COVID-19 crisis please see the article prepared by Anastasia Usova, Partner at Redcliffe Partners, for Special E-Concurrences On-Topic “Competition Law and Health Crisis”: https://bit.ly/3wBPnr0. The On-Topic is available by the link: https://bit.ly/2yX1BBN.