Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Committee for the Development of Competition and Consumer Protection of the Republic of Uzbekistan initiated a case on the fact of concluding an agreement with the Zooduz Holding Limited, registered in the United Arab Emirates, for the purchase and sale of a 99.99 percent stake in the authorized capital of LLC JV "Orientswiss Tashkent", which is the founder of a microcredit organization under the trademark Zoodpay, operating in the territory of the republic, without obtaining the prior consent of the antimonopoly authority.

Zoodmall marketplace, Zoodpay microcredit system, Zoodship digital platform, which provides logistics and delivery services in Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Lebanon under the Zood brand, owned by the Swiss company Orientswiss S.A., has users consisting of more than 300 million individuals and 5 million business entities.

Actions to conclude this transaction were taken in violation of the requirements of part two of Article 17 of the current Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Competition".

That is, in accordance with this article, in the following cases, it is necessary to obtain the prior consent of the antimonopoly authority for transactions to acquire shares (stakes) in the authorized fund (authorized capital) of an economic entity by a person or group of persons:

if such a person or a group of persons acquires the right to dispose of more than 50 percent of the said shares (interests);

if the total balance sheet value of the assets of the persons participating in the transaction, or the total income received from the sale of goods for the last calendar year, is more than 100,000 times the size of the basic estimated value, or if one of the participants in the transaction is an economic entity that occupies a dominant position in the commodity or financial market.

During the study, it was found that the book value of assets and turnover of Orientswiss Tashkent, shares of which are being sold, exceeded 100,000 times the size of basic estimated value.

In connection with the current situation, the Committee issued a binding order to eliminate violations of the law on the basis of competition law, and measures are being taken to apply the responsibility envisaged by the Code of Administrative Liability.

It should be noted that the new Law "On Competition" applies to the activities of digital platforms, and the Committee performs the task of regulating them in terms of ensuring competition.

To date, the Committee is developing mechanisms for regulating digital platforms in cooperation with experts from international organizations (the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank), and the adoption of these documents is planned with the entry into force of the new Competition Law.

At the same time, as noted above, we remind you once again that in cases established by law, in order to obtain a share (share) in the authorized fund (authorized capital) of economic entities, it is required to obtain the prior consent of the antimonopoly authority.