The Committee for the Development of Competition and Protection of Consumer Rights has reviewed an application from Tapuz Limited to acquire a 100% stake in OLX Classifieds LLC, the committee's press service reported.

OLX Classifieds operates a digital platform providing online classified services under the OLX brand.

During the analysis, the committee noted that Tapuz Limited's main shareholder is TBC Bank Group PLC, which indirectly owns the digital bank TBC Bank Uzbekistan and the payment service Payme. It was also noted that Payme and OLX are included in the register of companies holding a dominant position in the digital platform market.

At the same time, it was established that Tapuz Limited does not hold stakes in other companies operating in the online classifieds sector in Uzbekistan.

Based on the analysis, a special commission of the committee decided to preliminarily approve the economic concentration deal, imposing a number of mandatory conditions: it is prohibited to unreasonably influence the terms of use of the OLX platform for current and future users through other digital platforms controlled by the TBC group; it is prohibited to use data collected via OLX to restrict competition or gain advantages over competitors of TBC Bank and Payme; it is prohibited to disclose personal or commercial data of clients of competing companies; it is prohibited to abuse the dominant position and infringe on consumer rights; it is prohibited to restrict users in choosing a payment method by imposing exclusively Payme or TBC Bank services.

In addition, the company is obliged to ensure equal conditions for competing payment services and comply with competition legislation requirements.

Source: uznews.uz