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Uzbekistan’s Competition Committee is proposing a digital oversight system for retail promotions after an audit of 116 sales campaigns across 58 shops and service outlets uncovered 65 violations — including prizes that were never awarded, discounts that applied only to instalment payments rather than full prices, and promotional terms that were never properly disclosed to customers.
Under the proposals, retailers would be required to register the terms of any promotional campaign in a dedicated electronic system before the campaign begins. QR codes placed next to products would allow shoppers to scan and view a product’s price history and verify the actual size of any advertised discount. A separate price-history digitalisation measure would make it possible to track price changes over time and cross-check whether a claimed reduction is genuine.
The committee said the core problem identified by its inspections is not an absence of rules but a failure of timely enforcement mechanisms. The digital tools are intended to shift oversight from reactive spot-checks to continuous, verifiable monitoring.
What the Inspections Found
The violations documented span several regions. In Andijan, three winners of a promotional draw never received their prizes, with the total value of the withheld awards reaching 60 million soums. In Namangan, a Chevrolet Cobalt that had been won in a competition was handed to the wrong person because of a transcription error in a phone number; the car was returned to the rightful winner only after the Competition Committee intervened. A clothing shop in the same city was selling goods at an advertised 50 percent discount while displaying no price tags at all.
In Bukhara, an electronics retailer announced discounts of up to 60 percent that turned out to apply solely to monthly instalment payments, not to the full purchase price of the goods. In Samarkand region, buyers who purchased cars on credit were not given the household appliances that had been promised as part of the deal. In Kashkadarya region, an advertisement for a “buy one, get one” promotion omitted any description of what the second item would be.
Enforcement and Redress
The committee said 59 of the 65 shortcomings — roughly 90.7 percent — were resolved through legal explanations and warning letters. Formal proceedings were opened against four businesses, with decisions issued and binding instructions handed down. Consumers received recalculated refunds totalling approximately 250 million soums.
The committee framed its proposed digital measures as a means of protecting consumer rights and preventing misleading advertising, stating that the goal is to make promotional campaigns transparent and to stop buyers from being misled before they reach the checkout.