ON THE RESULTS OF ANTITRUST INVESTIGATIONS ON YANDEX TAXI IN KAZAKHSTAN

The agency for the protection and development of competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan has completed antitrust investigations into Yandex Taxi.

            As a result of the investigation, the company was brought to administrative responsibility for coordinating the economic activities of tax fleets, which were provided in the download of technical support services for the software of cash registers.

            Also, Yandex Taxi was brought to administrative responsibility for failure to provide information to the antimonopoly authority.

          Yandex Taxi voluntarily transferred 3 billion tenge to the fund to support the digital ecosystem of Kazakhstan.

         Also, the agency and Yandex Taxi have concluded antitrust compliance, within the framework of which it is planned to implement the following set of measures:

- first, as one of the conditions for increasing wages for drivers, from December 14 of this year, if the order exceeds twice the base cost of the fare, Yandex will stop collecting the commission; (economic impact of about 2 billion tenge per year);

- introduction of an additional bonus program for drivers (7-10 billion tenge in 2024 due to the growth of industry turnover and inflation);

- improving the user's application, justifying why the tariff was raised and what changes occurred in order to increase the transparency of tariff formation.

- secondly, an updated "together" tariff will be introduced for passengers, which will allow you to order a taxi at a lower price, even if the highest demand remains (restrictions on increasing the tariff to X2);

- the aggregator will introduce restrictions on increasing the tariff above X3 in conditions of maximum demand for taxi services, for example, in bad weather or on holidays - the number of trips above this level per quarter will not exceed 5%;  

- for passengers traveling with a child, a "children's" tariff is introduced, which allows you to call a car with a child seat or booster.

            To effectively communicate with taxi drivers and maintain communication with customers, a "regular" operator will work in the Call center.

            In addition, the following systematic measures were taken to ensure the balance of interests of passengers and drivers:

- The agency initiated amendments to the legislation, the introduction of which will allow drivers to work directly with Yandex without a taxi park (the commission of taxi parks is 4-8%);

-For a detailed study of Yandex software, as well as factors affecting pricing (weather conditions, holidays, increased demand, lack of drivers, etc.), an independent audit company in the field of IT, together with the agency, the Ministry of digital development and aerospace industry, conducts an algorithmic pricing audit.

           The implementation of Yandex's obligations within the framework of antimonopoly compliance will be under the control of a special monitoring group under the agency. It consists of experts from professional communities (representatives of initiative groups, ministries of transport, labor and social protection of the population, justice, digital development and innovation, as well as the Association of tax parks). This will allow timely consideration of emerging challenges.

           In addition, in the future, when the facts of violation of legislation in the field of competition protection are revealed, the agency will take the appropriate measures established by law. You can read more about compliance here.