President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree on July 6 launching as of October 1 in Uzbekistan of a register of business entities that have been granted exclusive rights.
The Committee for Competition Development and Consumer Protection will be in charge of keeping the list and monitoring compliance by economic entities with the terms for non-allowing discrimination.
The Committee will be required to identify entities that are able to unilaterally influence formulating deal terms, the place and price for sale of goods (superior negotiating power) and prohibit their abuse of superior negotiating power.
Companies or individuals who have entered into an anti-competitive agreement or colluded and were the first to voluntarily report this to the committee will be relieved from liability.
GOvernment bodies must submit to the committee draft regulations providing for the provision of state aid in order to assess their impact on the competitive environment.
Economic entities that hold a dominant position in commodity, financial and digital markets must post on their websites standard contracts (offers) for monopoly types of goods (works, services). The Committee will examine these agreements for inclusion in them of conditions leading to limitation to competition and (or) infringement of the rights and interests of consumers or business entities on an ongoing basis.
To prevent conflicts of interest, employees of the Competition Committee are not included in competitive (tender) commissions in public procurement, including those carried out at the expense of international financial institutions, as well as in the public-private partnership and hand over to trust management.
When suppressing anti-competitive actions, a procedure is being introduced for conducting preventive and explanatory work without applying liability measures in relation to businesses who have committed offenses for the first time in cases with a low degree of economic impact.
The Committee is also implementing the “We are listening” project, which will introduce a system of quarterly meetings with businesses and foreign investors, development and implementation of proposals to eliminate factors that hinder competition in at least one industry.
Since October, a system has also been introduced to support public control in the field of competition development and consumer protection by encouraging initiatives, assisting the activities of non-governmental non-profit organizations, their methodological support, providing them with technical assistance, improving the skills and legal knowledge of their employees.
Until September 1, the committee must submit a draft document on the introduction of effective mechanisms to reduce the negative impact on competition of economic entities. At the same time, rules of non-discrimination of the rights and legitimate interests of other persons on the part of economic entities with exclusive rights should be introduced.
Until December 20, it was instructed to develop a draft government decree on the regulation of natural monopolies through independent regulators with an analysis of ongoing projects, as well as optimization of legislative acts regulating the tariffs of natural monopolies, with a complete inventory.
In addition, it is planned to develop an information system and a mobile app: "Information about product", which provide an opportunity for consumers to receive online information about goods (works and services) on the market.
The Competition Development Fund will operate as an off-budget fund without the status of a legal entity, while maintaining the current procedure for the formation and use of its funds.
As we reported earlier, the Competition Development Committee is now again accountable to the President and the Senate. He will conduct his powers independently of state bodies and organizations.
We also reviewed the new wording of the Competition Law. It introduces the concept of antimonopoly compliance, revises the conditions for determining dominant position, as well as the criteria for economic concentration transactions.
