Competition Law

DOBREV, KINKIN & LYUTSKANOV Law Firm has provided legal assistance and protects the rights of its clients ever since the introduction of the anti-trust legislation in the Republic of Bulgaria. Throughout this period, our team has gained substantial and successful experience in the enforcement of the EU and national legislation which is increasingly turning into standards of business conduct and practices.
The specialized unit of DOBREV, KINKIN & LYUTSKANOV Law Firm provides legal assistance and defence in cases of violation of the anti-trust legislation, ensuring legal representation of its clients in cases of investigation initiated by the regulatory authority into alleged prohibited agreements, as well as in the conduct of search and seizure in the course of such investigations. Our team provides also consultations which assist economic operators in reaching compliance of their market behaviour with the anti-trust rules, advising them, more specifically, on the conclusion of all types of horizontal and vertical agreements, the establishment of joint ventures and the operation of distribution systems. We pay special attention to the opportunities which the EU and national legislation offer for exemption of market participants from these prohibitions. An important element of our work is the legal consultancy with a view to joining the programme for exemption or reduction of sanctions as adopted by the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC).
DOBREV, KINKIN & LYUTSKANOV Law Firm has gained substantial experience in the joint daily work with our clients to make sure that their market conduct is compliant with the prohibition of the abuse of monopoly or dominant position. The law firm provides consultancy to various companies holding dominant position on the market from the perspective of their pricing policy, the prevention of discriminatory terms and conditions in their business relations and in the operation of “essential facilities”.
The law firm offers also legal advice in cases of concentration of business through mergers and acquisitions, making a preliminary assessment of the risk of occurrence of conditions for concentration in accordance with the national and EU legislation and taking part in the preparation of the required notifications and in the procedures for the issuance of the requisite permissions by the regulatory authority.
Our team pays great attention to the cases of unfair competition and wrongful granting of state aid.
DOBREV, KINKIN & LYUTSKANOV Law Firm has considerable experience in the preparation of full due diligence reports on the conduct of business by an undertaking or a group of undertakings within the same economic group with a view to the compliance with competition rules. This self-assessment method has helped our clients to avoid a subsequent penalty imposed for serious breaches of the anti-trust legislation.
All the documents which DOBREV, KINKIN & LYUTSKANOV Law Firm consults or drafts are verified and coordinated by our specialized team in accordance with the EU and national legislation in the field of competition:

• consultancy and legal representation in proceedings initiated for breach of anti-trust rules;
• participation and legal assistance in the course of search or seizure of evidence conducted by the regulatory authority;
• consultancy on the conclusion of horizontal agreements between competing undertakings;
• consultancy on the operation of distribution systems and the conclusion of exclusive distribution agreements;
• legal assistance and advice with a view to the prohibition of the abuse of monopoly or dominant position;
• assessment of the risk of occurrence of the conditions for control of the concentration of business, preparation of notifications and participation in the procedure for the issuance of permissions by the regulatory authority;
• provision of legal assistance and representation in litigation in cases of unfair competition;
• preparation of full due diligence reports on the business behaviour of economic operators in view of the compliance with competition rules;
• legal representation before the Commission for Protection of Competition and the Supreme Administrative Court in cases under the Competition Protection Act.

Team

Grozdan Dobrev – Partner

Katerina Gramatikova – Senior Associate