Uzbekistan's Competition Committee fines 22 gas stations in Nukus over price hikes

Uzbekistan's Competition Committee has found coordinated price increases for liquefied gas at 22 automobile gas-filling compressor stations in Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan, according to the agency's press service. After a complaint was filed with the regulator, committee staff carried out a series of inspections.

The checks showed that gas stations operating in Nukus simultaneously raised the price of propane by an average of 1,050 soums per cubic meter above their existing rates. A special commission of the committee opened a case over the coordinated anti-competitive actions, and the agency stressed that such decisions violate Article 19 of the Law "On Competition."

Following the review, the regulator imposed financial fines on the stations and issued binding orders to eliminate the violations and prevent them in the future. Nine companies tried to challenge the commission's decision in court, but the court upheld the legality of the regulator's ruling.