Bulgaria's Transport Minister, Aleksander Tsvetkov, is asking a probe to establish of there is a cartel practice in determining fuel prices in the country.

On Tuesday, Tsvetkov sent a request to the Commission for Competition Protection (KZK) and the Commission for Consumer Protection (KZP) to check reports of automobile carrier organizations that the fuel price hike in Bulgaria, which has reached all-time record levels recently, is not just the result of the price increase of oil on international markets.

The transport business insists there as cartel agreement to keep prices this high, while the Bulgarian Union of Cargo Carriers' branch in the Danube city of Ruse (including 46 companies) announced they will stop all their services beginning March 21.

KZP say they have no authority to investigate cartel practices.

KZK told the Bulgarian daily Dnevnik, off the record, they have no intentions of launching such probe and that investigating the fuels market is not their priority now over a recent research of how prices in the sector are formed.

In mid-2009, the Commission issued a report stating they did not find evidence of cartel practices and that the sole producer of oil products in Bulgaria – the Burgas-based Lukoil refinery is not using such practices. At the time, KZS explained prices are considerably influenced by excise duties and the Value Added Tax (VAT).

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