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Agreements on the use of fuel cards at partner gas stations between participants in the fuel market should not contain a prohibition on participation in public procurement without the partner’s consent – the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine reached this decision at a meeting on Thursday.
“AMCU found that the introduction and implementation of such contractual terms between companies, which make the possibility of participation or fulfillment of a contract based on public procurement results dependent on the competitor’s approval, have signs of violation of legislation on the protection of economic competition,” – the committee reported.
Taking the above into account, the committee recommended that the respondents remove the relevant condition in their partnership (inter-issuer) agreements, and also take measures to prevent the inclusion of similar conditions in partnership agreements in the future.
“Companies must inform the Committee about the results of the consideration of the recommendations within 10 days from the date of their receipt and within two months, inform about their fulfillment,” – the AMCU ruled.
As explained by the committee, in January 2025, AMCU began a study of light oil product markets regarding compliance by market participants with legislation on the protection of economic competition during the use of loyalty programs, multi-brand cards, and partner gas station networks.
Based on the analysis, the committee identified signs of legislative violations in the actions of 17 companies and two individual entrepreneurs in the form of anti-competitive concerted actions of business entities, in connection with which AMCU initiated proceedings on a relevant case in July 2025.
Signs of violations were particularly found in LLC “Petrol Partner,” “Trading House Avtotrans – Oil,” “Alliance Holding,” “Kyiv Invest Group,” “BVS Retail,” “Ventus Resource,” “VST – OIL,” “Gazbon,” “Global Energy GAS STATION,” “Global Time Group,” “Drive Petrol,” “Pride,” “S Card Service,” “Sun Stream Systems,” “Techno-Nafta Plus,” “Ukrpetrolcenter,” and “Union Card Oil,” as well as individual entrepreneurs Demchenko O.M. and Voronkov V.O.
“The Committee established that since the end of 2023, the defendants have concluded partnership (inter-issuer) agreements among themselves, which allow the use of fuel cards at partner gas stations,” – the agency stated.
One of the conditions of such agreements establishes a prohibition on using partnership (inter-issuer) agreements and goods (fuel) for participation in public procurement without the partner’s consent.
According to AMCU, the objective necessity for applying such a condition was not confirmed.
“This can lead to a decrease in the number of participants and create preconditions for coordinated behavior during the preparation and direct participation in public procurement,” – the committee concluded.
Оригінал статті: interfax.com.ua