The State Agency for Antimonopoly and Consumer Market Control under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan regularly conducts monitoring for the purpose of control, both based on applications and without applications, related to violations of competition legislation.
In response to an inquiry from Modern.az, the Agency stated that during 2025, 119 applications related to the restriction of competition in the market were reviewed by the Agency:
"These applications covered food, non-food, communication and internet, transport, public catering, finance, construction, tourism services, tobacco products, and other sectors. Of the reviewed applications, 69 were related to abuse of dominant position, 17 to the restriction of competition in relevant markets through agreements, and 33 to control over compliance with competition legislation. Compared to the analogous period of 2024, a 46.9% decrease was recorded in the total number of reviewed applications.
During the mentioned period, the review of 9 applications related to the application of anti-dumping, compensation, and safeguard measures was completed. These applications cover areas related to footwear products, metal products, medical supplies, and construction products.
During 2025, 280 applications related to unfair competition by market entities were reviewed; of these applications, 91 were satisfied, legal explanations and recommendations were provided for 101, 67 were answered in due course, and the review of 21 applications is ongoing.
The reviewed applications covered the sale of medicines and medical equipment, medical and internet services, public catering, food, non-food, construction, and other sectors. The received applications were mainly related to the illegal use of trademarks, misleading consumers, and other instances of unfair competition. Compared to 2024, the number of reviewed applications increased by 75%, and the number of satisfied applications increased by more than 3 times (30 applications in 2024).
Based on applications received by the Agency last year, 75 decisions were made and investigations were initiated regarding violations of competition legislation involving unfair competition. The investigations were mainly conducted in the areas of sale of medicines and medical equipment, medical and internet services, public catering, food, non-food, construction, and other goods and services.
55 investigations were conducted regarding unfair competition through the illegal use of trademarks, and 20 investigations related to other instances of unfair competition. 23 economic entities voluntarily eliminated violations of competition legislation, which indicates the effectiveness of preventive measures in the market.
28 cases were initiated regarding signs of violation of competition legislation related to unfair competition practices. Of these, 17 have been concluded, and the review of 11 cases is ongoing. These cases were initiated based on signs of misleading and deceiving customers, engaging in unfair competition by using unfair, inaccurate, or hidden advertising, imitation of a competitor's entrepreneurial activity, as well as other actions causing unfair competition, as stipulated in the Competition Code.
During 2025, 198 applications related to the dissemination of illegal advertisements were reviewed. Of these, 90 applications were satisfied, the facts mentioned in 3 applications were not identified, legal explanations and recommendations were provided for 48 applications, 18 applications were sent to the relevant authority for review, the review of 12 applications was suspended due to the non-submission of necessary documents, and investigations are ongoing for 27 applications. These were related to advertising content shared by internet information resources, social networks, as well as digital platform founders (bloggers and influencers). During the investigations, among the advertised goods and services, the sale of medicines, cosmetology and aesthetic services, public catering, sale of food and non-food products, mobile communication services, as well as other prohibited goods, predominated in the reviewed applications.
Compared to the corresponding period of 2024, the number of reviewed applications increased by 65%, and satisfied applications by 50%.
In connection with violations of advertising legislation, administrative offense protocols were drawn up against 20 entities under the relevant articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Of these protocols, 6 were for engaging in unfair advertising, 7 for engaging in inaccurate advertising, 6 for advertising prohibited goods (5 of which were drawn up directly against digital platform influencers – bloggers), and 1 for violating general advertising requirements. Preventing illegal advertising serves to properly inform consumers, reduce the risk of deception, and protect freedom of choice.
In 2025, out of 1182 applications reviewed by the Agency regarding services provided by natural monopoly entities, 600 were satisfied, investigations are ongoing for 81 applications, and legal explanations and recommendations were provided for 386 applications.
Of the reviewed applications, 1079 were received from citizens, and 30 from economic entities operating as natural or legal persons. The applications were mainly related to problems arising from communication (465), gas supply (158), electricity supply (150), drinking water supply (129), heat energy supply (54), air transport (51), railway transport (19), sewerage (11), postal services (8), transport (3), irrigation (melioration and irrigation) (1), and other services (30). The majority of these were recorded for unjustified suspension of services, delays in connection, non-compliance of service quality with normative requirements, billing and debt disputes, as well as non-compliance with sectoral legislation requirements. Compared to the analogous period of 2024, a 46.7% increase was recorded in the number of satisfied applications. Furthermore, the total amount of funds returned, restored, and written off for consumers due to unjustified charges under satisfied applications was close to 20 thousand manats, which represents an increase of up to 7 times compared to 2024.
Last year, a case was initiated against 1 natural monopoly entity in the water supply sector regarding violations of competition legislation related to actions that could negatively affect the interests of customers (consumers), the establishment of different rules not provided for in normative legal acts, including the incorrect application of tariffs, and a mandatory instruction for execution was issued. Additionally, 2 investigations were initiated against 1 natural monopoly entity in the electricity supply sector regarding various types of violation signs, and these investigations are currently ongoing.
Investigations were conducted to protect consumer rights regarding the call center activities of natural monopoly entities. Proposals were prepared and are intended to be submitted to the relevant authorities for the standardization and alignment of activities with international practice, the application of outsourcing and modern technologies, the improvement of the normative legal framework, the formation of unified application tracking mechanisms, and the ensuring of public disclosure of results. During 2025, the Agency received 20 applications for consent to a number of actions carried out by natural monopoly entities. Consent was given to 12 applications, and conditional consent was given to 6. Consent was refused for 1 application, and the investigation for 1 application is ongoing".
