The "New Normal" in Competition—Filling the Gaps of Ukrainian Competition Law in the Digital Economy Age in: Heiko Richter (
This chapter analyses the current state of and perspectives on Ukrainian competition law and policy development to help meet the challenges arising from the evolution of the modern digital economy. It provides the technological and social framework of competition in the twenty-first century, which is substantially determined by the strategic behavior of e-platforms, a fact that holds true for economies worldwide, including Ukraine. This chapter provides a review of some Ukrainian markets marked by the presence of e-platforms. Such a framework provides the range of competition-related challenges, including those to vertical competition, market definition and procompetitive data management. Some of these challenges can be met partially with the current Ukrainian competition law, while others need the latter to be further developed. The authors suggest the introduction of the concept of vertical competition into the legislation; the development and adoption of a new methodology of market definition that accounts for the challenges of multisided contracting, zero-pricing and network effects, etc.; the management of killer-acquisitions through keeping the pre-reform merger control thresholds in the digital sphere; the cooperation of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the National Commission for the State Regulation of Electronic Communications, Radiofrequency Spectrum and the Provision of Postal Services (NCEC) in granting gatekeeper status to e-platforms and regulating their impact on competition. This kind of regulatory cooperation does not replace the need for the soft regulation of data management, multihoming and self-preferencing, but enlarges it.
