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Social and Legal Studios

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Social and Legal Studios

Vol. 9, No. 1, 2026

Social and Legal Studios

ISSN 2617-4162

e-ISSN 2617-4170

Publisher: Lviv State University of Internal Affairs

Received 05.11.2025, Revised 09.02.2026, Accepted 25.03.2026 Published 01.04.2026
Pages 63-74
https://doi.org/10.32518/sals1.2026.63
Vol. 9, No. 1, 2026
Article

Antitrust legislation as a tool for shaping the competitive environment: Social consequences for business process management


Abstract

The aim of the study was to reveal the mechanism by which antitrust legislation transforms legal prohibitions into changes in the organisational behaviour of companies, and to determine the social consequences of this process for business process management in the context of reforming EU and Ukrainian competition law. The study was carried out on the basis of a normative and doctrinal analysis of primary competition law acts, official guidelines of the European Commission and reports of international organisations for 2020-2025. It was established that antitrust legislation performs not only a sanctioning but also a structuring function, setting the legal parameters of the market by defining the boundaries of market power, procedural guarantees and standards of proof. A comparative analysis of EU and Ukrainian law revealed a common architectural logic in both legal systems with significant differences in the thresholds of concentration control: while European regulation is focused mainly on large-scale transnational agreements, Ukrainian thresholds cover a much wider range of entities. It was found that the requirements of the regulation of vertical agreements and horizontal guidelines of the European Commission transformed legal prohibitions into specific procedures for managing contracts, data and intercompany projects, while concentration control formed a separate regulatory regime for mergers and acquisitions with specific points of legal screening. According to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine for 2024, out of 365 considered applications for concentrations, 131 were returned without consideration due to procedural shortcomings. The reform of Ukrainian competition legislation in 2023 confirmed convergence with European standards by expanding inspection powers and modernising the immunity mechanism. The study found that between 2020 and 2025, antitrust compliance transformed from an external legal constraint into an element of the internal architecture of corporate governance. The results have practical implications for companies developing compliance programmes, for regulators assessing the effectiveness, and for competition law researchers in the context of comparative studies


Keywords: комплаєнс; ринкова влада; контроль концентрацій; правозастосування; цифрові ринки; прозорість процедур


Suggested citation

Sakaly, M. (2026). Antitrust legislation as a tool for shaping the competitive environment: Social consequences for business process management. Social and Legal Studios, 9(1), 63-74. https://doi.org/10.32518/sals1.2026.63
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