Overview of Legal Regulation of Abuse of Dominant Position in the EU and Uzbekistan

Abstract

This article provides a comparative overview of the legal regulation of abuse of a dominant position in the European Union (EU) and Uzbekistan. It examines the conceptual foundations, definitions, and enforcement practices in both jurisdictions, highlighting similarities and divergences. While neither legal system prohibits dominance per se, both outlaw its abuse. The EU approach, rooted in Article 102 TFEU and shaped extensively by the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), offers a flexible and dynamic framework that incorporates both exploitative and exclusionary practices, with growing attention to the digital economy. The EU’s methodology for defining relevant markets—based on product and geographic dimensions, and incorporating tools such as SSNIP and SSNDQ—contrasts with Uzbekistan’s simplified approach that combines market boundaries into a single concept and relies heavily on statutory definitions. The Uzbek competition framework, as amended in 2023, reflects an evolving adaptation of international standards but continues to emphasize market shares and exploitative abuses, with limited reliance on case law or economic tests. By comparing both models, the paper argues that while Uzbekistan has drawn inspiration from the EU, important institutional and methodological gaps remain, particularly regarding the assessment of exclusionary conduct and flexible market analysis.