Uzbek authorities to check Yandex.Taxi for compliance with competition rules

TASHKENT. March 6 (Interfax) - The Uzbek Competition Development and Consumer Rights Protection Committee will check the operation of Yandex.Taxi, a taxi service aggregator, for signs of dominance on the taxi services market in the country, the committee's press service said on Monday.

In October 2022, the committee began a full review of the market of taxi service aggregators. In February 2023, requests were filed with the founders of the Yandex Go service: Yandex N.V . (Netherlands), Yandex Europe AG (Switzerland) and Ridetech International B.V. (Netherlands).

Data on the number of application users (drivers and customers), the total number of transactions and passenger traffic, the gross merchandise value (GMV) and information on the amount and distribution of commissions received by Yandex Go and taxi fleets for 2022 were requested, the press service said.

The committee draws attention to the fact that the absence of Yandex's legal entity in Uzbekistan causes certain difficulties in the anti-monopoly regulation of the company's operations.

"The findings of the analysis will be further announced by the committee through the media," the press service added.

A representative of Yandex Go explained to Interfax that such requests are a regular international practice of state agencies from various countries. "The request in question was filed by the Uzbek anti-monopoly authority as part of the review of the market of taxi service aggregators. We are in touch with the committee and are ready to cooperate, we will provide answers in due time and in full," the company's press service said.

Previously, in April 2022, the Uzbek Ministry of Information Technology and Communications Development offered Yandex.Taxi to become a resident of the IT-park operating in Tashkent.

Yandex.Taxi has been working in Uzbekistan since April 2018. Currently, its services are available in Tashkent and five other cities in the country.