According to the current version of the draft law, which has already passed its first reading in parliament, there are concerns about "systemic legal and economic risks for entrepreneurs."
Representatives of the agribusiness sector previously submitted their proposals to the Ministry of Economy and Commerce; however, many of them were not taken into account in the final version of the document.
Among the main concerns are excessive powers of the regulator and vague wording that could lead to the interpretation of ordinary market practices as violations. One of the most serious issues is considered to be the right of the antimonopoly authority to intervene without limitation in the activities of companies. Article 23 of the draft law grants employees of the antimonopoly authority free access to organizations, their information systems, and databases.
The agribusiness sector also expresses concerns that the obligation to provide any requested information, including commercial data, will lead to increased administrative pressure. Furthermore, the draft law lacks sufficient procedural guarantees to limit the grounds for such actions.
The new criteria by which a company can be recognized as a monopolist have also come under criticism. According to the proposed norms, a dominant position can be established even with a market share of less than 35% if the antimonopoly authority identifies certain qualitative characteristics.
In Kyrgyzstan, regional markets are quite narrow, and this innovation could lead to ordinary processing or logistics companies being recognized as dominant.
The authors of the appeal also point out that strict rules for vertical agreements may disrupt the usual operational schemes of the sector: farmer — processor — wholesale operator — retail chain. Limiting such connections, in the opinion of producers, could increase risks for farmers and cause instability in supplies.
The established threshold for mandatory antimonopoly compliance — revenue exceeding 50 million soms — has also been criticized. For the agricultural sector, this is the level of medium-sized businesses, and the introduction of mandatory compliance could lead to an increase in administrative costs, the need to hire legal consultants, and complicate internal document flow.
Overall, representatives of the agricultural sector believe that the adoption of this draft law could increase the discretionary powers of the antimonopoly authority, raise the administrative burden on businesses, and create additional legal risks for entrepreneurs.
