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The AMCU fined Karpatski Mineralni Vody LLC for violating competition law

The AMCU fined “Carpathian Mineral Waters” LLC 9.42 million UAH for disseminating information that could create a false impression among consumers regarding the origin of “Carpathian Spring” water from the Ukrainian Carpathians.

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On March 5, 2026, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine adopted a decision recognizing the actions of Karpatski Mineralni Vody LLC as a violation of the law on protection against unfair competition.

The violation consisted in the dissemination of false information, in particular on the product label and the manufacturer's website, due to the chosen method of presenting information about the origin of the natural mineral table water “Karpatskaya Dzherelna” from the Ukrainian Carpathians.

During its consideration, the Committee used information provided, in particular, by the Western Scientific Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, the state scientific and production enterprise Kartografiya, and the Institute of Geological Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. These institutions reported that the Pivdenno-Strutynske deposit, from which TM Karpatskaya Dzherelna water is extracted, and the village of Strutyn in the Lviv region do not belong to the Ukrainian Carpathians.

During its consideration of the case, the Committee also examined the issue of consumer perception of the information provided on the labels of TM Karpatskaya Dzherelna water through a consumer survey. Thus, consumers may perceive the name “Karpatskaya Dzherelna” in conjunction with the images of mountains, fir trees, and a map marked “Carpathians” as information indicating that the water originates from the Ukrainian Carpathians. 

In view of the above, Karpatski Mineralni Vody LLC may gain unfair competitive advantages over producers and/or distributors of natural mineral table waters.

During the proceedings, Karpatski Mineralni Vody LLC informed the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine of its intention to change the design of the labels for Karpatskaya Dzherelna water. In particular, the company plans to clearly indicate that Karpatskaya Dzherelna is exclusively a trademark and not an indication of the region of origin of the product.

At the same time, the products with the updated design have not yet been put into commercial circulation.

After looking into the case, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine decided that Karpatski Mineralni Vody LLC broke Article 15-1 of Ukraine's Law “On Protection Against Unfair Competition,” fined them 9,422,082 UAH, and told them to stop doing it. 

 #AMCU #CompetitionLaw #Business #ProductLabeling #ConsumerProtection #MarketRegulation #Ukraine 

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