The Department of the Agency for Protection and Development of Competition (APDC) for the city of Astana has identified a violation of antimonopoly legislation in the activities of Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport JSC. The court of first instance ruled the investigation findings to be lawful.
WHAT THE INVESTIGATION ESTABLISHED
It has been reported that the airport, holding a monopoly position in the relevant market, levied a fee from aviation fuel suppliers that was not regulated by law.
As noted in the investigation materials, suppliers could not refuse these terms, as there were no alternative suppliers of this service.
HOW THE FEE CHANGED
The investigation established that the amount of the fee was changed sequentially from 16,240 tenge to 77,852 tenge per tonne, and was then reduced to 60,137 tenge per tonne.
According to the APDC, this increased the financial burden on market participants and created risks of higher aviation fuel costs for end consumers.
WHAT LEGAL ASSESSMENT WAS GIVEN TO THE AIRPORT'S ACTIONS
The actions of the airport were classified as an abuse of a monopoly position in accordance with Article 174 of the Entrepreneurial Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan ("Abuse of a dominant or monopoly position").
The legality of the investigation findings was confirmed by the court of first instance.
CONTEXT
This is not the first case of violations being identified in the aviation fuel supply market at Kazakhstan's airports. In February, the court fined Turkestan International Airport JSC 14.3 million tenge for violating antimonopoly legislation related to levying a fee from businesses for the right to sell aviation fuel within the airport territory.
Furthermore, Semey International Airport LLP was held administratively liable for abuse of a dominant position in setting a high price for aviation fuel.
