BlaBlaCar is suspected of monopolizing the car market
19 December 20:23
The Antimonopoly Committee has found signs of monopoly in BlaBlaCar. This is stated in a post on the AMCU’s official Facebook page, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has found that I-Travels LLC, which operates the Blablacar online platform, has a monopoly position in the car sharing market.
In addition, the Committee found that the Company did not provide adequate explanations of the mechanism for setting and refunding the service fee for using the platform.
The Committee also noticed unclear conditions for the refund of the fee, which may lead to infringement of consumer interests. In this regard, the Committee provided recommendations to eliminate these violations within two months. If the recommendations are not implemented within the prescribed period, the Committee will initiate proceedings on violation of competition law.
According to the AMCU experts, I-Travels LLC has a special responsibility to consumers.
Another problem identified during the control was the lack of proper explanation of the pricing mechanism of the service fee, as well as the lack of information on the criteria/conditions for refunding this fee. The Committee believes that such behavior may infringe on the interests of consumers and contains signs of a violation.
In this regard, LLC “I-Travels” received recommendations to stop these actions. In case of failure to comply with the recommendations within the established timeframe, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine will initiate proceedings on violation of the legislation on protection of economic competition. The recommendations relate not only to the abuse of monopoly position, but also to unclear conditions for the refund of the service fee by I-Travels LLC.
