Competition Committee targets unfair sales practices, aims to end fake discounts and price manipulation

The Committee for the Development of Competition and Protection of Consumer Rights has submitted for public discussion a draft resolution titled “On Amendments and Additions to the Rules of Retail Trade in the Republic of Uzbekistan in Connection with the Improvement of Procedures for Organizing and Conducting Promotions and Discounts in Retail.”

The draft aims to regulate the following concepts:

• Promotion – an offer to purchase goods under special conditions that differ from the usual ones, intended to increase consumer interest and boost sales;
• Price tag – information presented in a standardized and clear format that indicates the final price per unit or a specified quantity of goods offered to the consumer without any additional conditions;
• Discounted price – a price reduced by a certain percentage or amount from the previous price;
• Pre-discount price – the lowest price per unit of the product that was in effect during the 30 days prior to the announcement of the discount, which must be verifiable by the seller.

Sellers will be allowed to conduct promotions and apply discounts to goods for the purpose of increasing consumer interest and sales. However, this will exclude all types of alcoholic beverages, beer, wine, tobacco products, and devices for tobacco and nicotine consumption.

The proposed regulations set forth the following requirements:

• The listed previous price must be the lowest price from the past 30 days before the discount is announced;
• The discounted price, if shown on the price tag, must not be printed in a larger font than the regular price;
• Misleading consumers by artificially inflating prices and then reducing them under the guise of a “discount” is strictly prohibited;
• Information about promotions, discounts, and markups must be submitted to the tax authorities at least 10 days prior to the start of the campaign;
• When announcing discounts, the seller must keep records of products and prices, maintain a record of prices from the last 30 days, and provide this information to consumers upon request.

Sellers are also obligated to clearly communicate all promotion conditions to consumers, including the validity period, purchasing procedures, list of applicable goods, and other relevant details.

Furthermore, sellers must:

• Not change the terms of the promotion after it has been announced;
• Provide accurate and sufficient information about pricing;
• Ensure that all declared discounts, bonuses, and privileges are actually granted;
• Guarantee that enough stock of promotional goods is available for the entire duration of the campaign.

The draft also requires sellers to disclose if the discount applies to a limited quantity, seasonal goods, products nearing expiration, incomplete sets, damaged packaging, and so on. Sellers must also comply with data protection laws, and inform consumers about the purposes and conditions of personal data processing.

Violations of these retail trade requirements during promotions and discounts will be treated as breaches of trade regulations and subject to legal accountability.

The public discussion of this draft will continue until July 5.