The creation of a competitive environment and anti-monopoly legislation in Uzbekistan

a) maximum elimination of any manifestation of state monopoly in the economy.For this, deep institutional reforms aimed at creating relatively favorable conditions for the development of entrepreneurship and the improvement of the system of state management of the economy are necessary;

b) prevention of opportunities of monopolies emerging in market conditions to abuse their dominant position in the market.State institutions should ensure the development of competition. Without it, it is impossible to achieve effective innovations, low costs and prices, high product quality, in other words, to increase the competitiveness of the entire economy.⁷.

Privatization and creation of other forms of ownership at the expense of state property occupy a key place in Uzbekistan's policy aimed at creating a competitive environment. As a result of privatization, firstly, the property is handed over to its owners, and secondly, it creates a multi-level economy and competitive environment.

Thus, the main way to create a competitive environment in Uzbekistan is to move from a state monopoly that denies competition to a non-state market system based on the existence of various economic forms and requiring free competition as much as possible. The formation of competitive relations here requires, first of all, the emergence of independent free producers of goods, because the main condition of competition is a free economic entity that has its own interests on the basis of separate, proprietary responsibility and undertakes entrepreneurial risks. the existence of ects is their communication through the market.

For this purpose, the Law "On Limiting Monopoly Activities" (1992, August) was enacted in Uzbekistan and a series of regulatory documents aimed at the development of competition were developed based on it. According to this law, it is forbidden to deliberately create a deficit in the market, monopolize prices, prevent competitors from entering the market, and use unfair methods of competition. Violators of the law must compensate for the damage they caused to their opponent, pay a fine, and be deprived of the profits obtained by bribery.

Significant changes in the field of economy and antimonopoly practice required further improvement of the relevant legal framework. Accordingly, on December 27, 1996, the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan adopted a new law "On restriction of monopolistic activities and competition in commodity markets". This law defines the organizational and legal basis for preventing, restricting and stopping monopolistic activities and unfair competition, and aims to ensure the formation and effective implementation of competitive relations in the commodity markets of the republic.

Also, the law mainly has two important directions, namely, firstly, a fundamentally new form of antitrust regulation, which aims to prevent and eliminate the abuse of a dominant position in the market by existing and remaining monopolists. secondly, it is determined that the elimination of monopoly and the creation of a healthy competitive environment are considered to be the most important issues.

This law does not prohibit the operation of monopolies, but aims to prevent negative situations caused by their dominance in the market. Prohibitions provided by the law are established against the behavior of monopolists, which are typical both for developed market economy countries and for Uzbekistan and other transition economy countries.

The following actions are considered antitrust violations:

- abuse of a dominant position in the market by an economic entity (Article 5);

- agreements (mutually agreed actions) of business entities aimed at restricting competition (Article 6);

- actions of state administration bodies and local authorities aimed at restricting competition (Article 7);

- unfair competition (Article 8).

In order to implement active anti-monopoly measures, an anti-monopoly body was established in Uzbekistan in 1992 as the General Directorate of Anti-Monopoly and Price Policy of the Ministry of Finance. The board was given the right to regulate the prices and profitability of the products of the listed monopoly enterprises. In 1996, on the basis of this department, the Committee for Exclusion of Monopoly and Development of Competition under the Ministry of Finance was established. In 2000, according to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On the establishment of the State Committee for the Elimination of Monopoly and Development of Competition", the anti-monopoly body was removed from the Ministry of Finance and turned into an independent state committee.⁸.

All the work that is being done to create a competitive environment in the republic serves to create a market economy.

One of the important directions of the anti-monopoly policy in the Republic of Uzbekistan is to control and prevent abuse of the dominant position of monopolistic enterprises in the commodity market. It is for this purpose that the State Register of Monopolistic Enterprises is maintained, and enterprises with a dominant position in a certain industry are included in it.

Article 3 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Limitation of Monopolistic Activity and Competition in Commodity Markets" defines the concept of "dominant position" as follows: to have a decisive influence on the restriction of competition on the market of an economic entity (a group of individuals), to make it difficult for other economic entities to enter the market or to otherwise restrict their freedom of economic activity a dominant position that gives the opportunity to limit. The position of an economic entity (a group of persons) with a market share of 65 percent or more is recognized as a dominant position. Also, the share of the economic entity in the market is from 35 percent to 65 percent, in this case, by the anti-monopoly state body: stability of the market share of the economic entity; to the relative amount of shares belonging to competitors in the market; that new competitors may enter this market; if it is determined according to other criteria describing the market of a particular commodity, its position in the market is considered to be a dominant position"⁹.

Registered business entities are obliged to declare the prices (tariffs) or profitability levels of their products in the Ministry of Finance or local financial authorities.

The state uses a number of methods to regulate the market position of enterprises (networks) included in the list of monopolies in the republic. Two of these methods should be distinguished:

1. Establishing the highest level of prices or the limit of profitability for the products of enterprises in a monopoly position.

2. Break up or break up monopolistic associations that have abused their monopoly position. This method is carried out on the basis of the "Regulation on the procedure for the withdrawal of objects from the structure of economic societies and companies" approved by the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers (No. 366 of July 18, 1994). On the basis of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On the Protection of Consumer Rights" (April 1996), it is also necessary to create a mechanism that prevents unfair competition, including the release of goods that do not meet the specified requirements into the Republic's markets. attention is given. State regulation of natural monopolies, they regulate the level of prices and tariffs for products (services),

In recent years, due to the improvement of the methodology of maintaining the State Register, the development of small business and private entrepreneurship, the increase in the weight of enterprises established as a result of the influx of foreign investments, and other factors, many monopolistic enterprises have been removed from the State Register due to the decrease in their share in the commodity markets. If, as of 1996, 827 economic entities were registered in the register for 4,351 types of products, work, and services, as of July 1, 2007, 240 economic entities registered 170 products (goods , considered by types of work and services.

As a result of the anti-monopoly policy in our country, the number of monopolistic enterprises decreased by 3.5 times, and the type of monopoly products decreased by 26 times over the last 10 years. Only during the years 2004-2007, the share of monopoly products in the total volume of the gross domestic product fell from 26 percent to 21 percent.¹⁰.

As a result, there are almost no enterprises with a state share in the charter fund of the republican economic associations formed on the basis of the former line ministries ("Uzgoshtsutsanoat", "Oziqvokt uzysyonat", "Ozelteksanoat" associations, etc.), and others , ("Uzbekengilsanoat" JSC, "Uzdonmahsulot" JSC, etc.) the number of such enterprises has sharply decreased. A number of associations that were considered monopolies in the networks were dissolved and replaced by independent enterprises, which led to a further strengthening of the competitive environment.

Also, in the conditions of the global financial and economic crisis, it is an urgent task to ensure the competitiveness of the goods produced in our country in the world market. This issue was also taken into account in the anti-crisis measures program of our republic for 2009-2012, in which "concrete measures to support the competitiveness of enterprises producing products for export in foreign markets in the current situation, when the current economic situation is deteriorating sharply implementation of measures and creation of additional factors for export promotion, in particular:

- granting preferential loans to enterprises for a period of up to 12 months at rates not exceeding 70% of the refinancing rate of the Central Bank in order to replenish working capital;

- to extend the period of exemption of enterprises specialized in the production of finished products, established with the participation of foreign investment, from all types of taxes and payments to the budget - with the exception of value added tax - until 2012;

- revision of overdue and current debts on bank loans, exemption of payments to the budget and other important benefits and preferences»¹¹specified. The implementation of such effective measures ultimately makes it possible to further strengthen the competitive environment in our country.