Antimonopoly Committee says having a single taxi service at Tashkent airport breaches law on competition

The committee investigated the increase in parking fees near Tashkent International Airport and also commented on the monopoly of a certain company in running taxi services in an area near the terminal arrivals.

According to the committee, this breaches the law “On competition”.

In particular, natural monopoly entities are prohibited from using the state of natural monopoly to limit competition in the market of goods (works, services) not included in the sphere of natural monopoly. In addition, in certain cases, it is forbidden for legal entities and individuals to coordinate the activities of economic entities.

It was reported that on December 23, 2022, the competition body found Uzbekistan Airports JSC to have violated the legal requirements and issued mandatory instructions to the company. The airport was required to:

• create equal conditions for the entry of vehicles of business entities that meet the relevant requirements and are licensed in the prescribed manner;
• exclude the clauses from the “technical assignment” for the organization of the passenger and luggage taxi service, from the lease agreement of the relevant space, the clauses that fixed tariffs are applied for the transportation of passengers and that any changes in the tariffs are carried out in agreement with Uzbekistan Airports JSC;
• ensure that consumers are informed about the presence of other economic entities providing taxi service on the 1st line of the special road near the departure terminal;
• revise the amount of payment for parking lots near the airport area.

Uzbekistan Airports JSC was dissatisfied with the decision and instructions of the committee and appealed to the Tashkent inter-district administrative court.

By the decision of the court dated March 28, 2023, the appeal of Uzbekistan Airports JSC was rejected, and the decision and instruction of the committee remained in force.

Also, this case was considered by the appellate instance of the Administrative Court of Tashkent city based on the appeal of Uzbekistan Airports JSC, and on June 12, 2023, the appeal was rejected.

“The Competition Committee is always ready to fight in the courts of all instances in terms of ensuring a competitive environment in the industry and protecting the interests of consumers,” the committee said in a statement.