Companies in the Odesa region were unable to have the AMCU's fines for collusion overturned

The Supreme Court upheld the decision to hold the Odessa-based LLC “Elektroservice-Pivden” liable for anti-competitive concerted actions during public procurement. It has definitively confirmed the legality of the fine imposed by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine for the company’s collusion with another bidder.

This is stated in the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The case concerned a decision by the AMCU adopted in 2024. At that time, anti-competitive concerted conduct by “Elektroservice-Pivden” LLC and another bidder—“Elektroperspektiva” LLC—was uncovered.  The case involved the manipulation of the results of 10 tenders for the procurement of various types of electrical installation work in the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions. The total estimated value of all tenders exceeded 90 million hryvnias. At that time, the AMCU fined both companies a total of 12 million hryvnias.

According to the regulator, the companies coordinated their actions, which led to the distortion of the results of 10 procurement procedures between 2017 and 2019. Based on these facts, the AMCU imposed a monetary fine on the companies.   

Among the evidence of collusion, the AMCU identified the presence of shared employees between the firms, the provision of mutual financial assistance, and the use of the same IP addresses, contact phone numbers, and material and technical resources. In addition, the regulator noted synchronized actions during the submission of bid proposals, similarities in electronic files, and the notarization of documents by the same notary.   

“Elektroservis-Pivden” LLC challenged the AMCU’s decision in court, seeking its reversal on the grounds that, in their view, the conspiracy had not been proven and procedural deadlines for considering the case had been violated. However, the Kyiv Commercial Court denied the claim, and the Northern Commercial Court of Appeals upheld that decision. The courts agreed with the AMCU’s conclusions and noted that the mere fact of coordinated conduct among the participants is sufficient to classify the actions as a violation of the Law “On Protection of Economic Competition.”   

The Commercial Court of Cassation within the Supreme Court found no violations of substantive or procedural law and dismissed the company’s appeal. The ruling took legal effect upon its adoption, is final and not subject to appeal, and all court costs were awarded against the plaintiff.
 

Юлія Калабайда