We are pleased to present the second joint publication of the CIS Leading Counsel Network.

In September 2009 nine leading law firms from the countries of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) economic region have launched a new alliance, the CIS Leading Counsel Network, which aims to transcend the national boundaries and offer clients a seamless advice across these fast developing markets.

The CIS Leading Counsel Network (LCN) brings together the following prominent national law firms: in Armenia - Ameria, in Azerbaijan - FINA, in Belarus - Vlasova Mikhel & Partners, in Kazakhstan - Aequitas, in the Kyrgyz Republic - Kalikova & Associates, in Moldova - Turcan Cazac, in Russia - Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, in Turkmenistan - ACT and in Ukraine - RULG – Ukrainian Legal Group. The network aims to combine the highest international professional standards with unique local insight in these regions thatare increasingly attracting international investments.

LCN members have a long history of successful collaboration. The alliance takes to a new level their time-tested relationships and offers clients integrated teams in these dynamic and challenging jurisdictions.

We chose the topic of antitrust regime for our second publication because of the increased global M&A activity and the renewed interest of the international investment community in the CIS economic region. A clear tendency has also emerged of cross-border deals involving several countries of our region, requiring a comparative cross-regional analysis. In addition, the laws and regulations, as well as the practices of antitrust authorities in our jurisdictions are becoming increasingly comprehensive and sophisticated, which prompts the need to regularly monitor changes in the legislation and implementation practices.

We believe that this practical Guide will help you navigate through the antitrust regimes in the CIS economic region and stay current with the updates that we will be adding on a regular basis. We decided to publish this Guide in the on-line format, because this will allow us to add regular updates and our readers will benefit from an easy to use practical structure of the Guide. Each country material consists of five sections covering:

1. Overview of competition regulations and authorities
2. Prevention of monopolistic activities and unfair competition, including subsections on:
   • Dominance
   • Monopolistic agreements and concerted actions
   • Unfair competition
   • Antitrust investigation
   • Implications for infringers
3. Control over economic concentration, including subsections on:
   • Transactions subject to approval
   • Approval / notification thresholds
   • "Groups" and "intragroup deals"
   • Exceptions from transaction approval requirements
   • General approval procedure
   • Implications of a failure to obtain approval
4. Current Case Law trends
5. Basic trends in the development of antitrust laws in 2011-2012

The information we offer in the Guide stems from joint expertise that we have developed as members of the first integrated regional network, working together on several major cross-regional deals. We are happy to share our knowledge with you and hope that this practical Guide will help you to improve the understanding of the antitrust regimes in the CIS economic region.

Irina Paliashvili
President & Senior Counsel, RULG-Ukrainian Legal Group
Co-chair, CIS LCN

Dimitry Afanasiev
Chairman, Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners
Co-chair, CIS LCN