Activities of the Committee for the Development of Competition and Protection of Consumer Rights for 2023

I. The Central Office of the Committee analyzed 182 markets for goods and services. Of these, 32 markets were fully analyzed and 150 express analyzes were carried out on market saturation.
In the fully analyzed 32 product and financial markets, 11 (12 enterprises) had a dominant position, 9 (9 enterprises) had a loss of dominant position, and in the remaining 12 markets sufficient development of competition was identified.
II. Conclusions were prepared on the impact on the competitive environment of 614 draft regulatory legal acts received by the Committee through the project.gov.uz portal from state and economic management bodies and local government bodies (using the ex-ante method), of which 285 (46% ) cases where the existence of norms that contradict legal requirements has been established.
In particular, in 2023, the Committee received 165 draft Decrees and Resolutions of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, of which 85 (52%), and the Committee also received 339 drafts of the Cabinet of Ministers, of which 158 (47%) were given appropriate conclusions on the existence of standards , contrary to the requirements of current and antimonopoly legislation.
III. In total, 52 types of highly liquid and monopoly products worth 83.0 trillion soums were sold through exchange trading, where 25% of this turnover (21.0 trillion soums) were 14 types of petroleum products and fuel products, and the remaining 75% (62.0 trillion soums) ) accounted for 38 highly liquid and monopoly products.
In addition, in 76 cases, cases of violation of legal requirements related to exchange trading were initiated against 67 business entities, and appropriate measures were taken.
IV. In the activities of individual enterprises in the economic sphere, 539 studies were carried out to determine compliance with the requirements of the Law “On Competition”; it was found that in 344 cases (64.4 percent) unjustified income was received from consumers totaling more than 55.7 billion soums.
In 159 cases, natural monopoly entities were given appropriate instructions to voluntarily liquidate funds totaling 39.1 billion, unjustifiably seized from business entities and the population.
Based on these instructions, work is underway to calculate funds in the amount of 29.7 billion (natural gas – 2.1 billion soums, electricity – 10.4 billion soums, drinking water and heat supply – 15.9 billion soums, other services – 1.3 billion soums) according to recalculation.
V. Based on the results of the analysis of 62,465 competitive (tender) auctions conducted by government customers, 27,730 anti-competitive actions were identified in the process of 18,738 (29.9%) auctions.
Of the 27,730 cases identified, information was sent to law enforcement agencies in 24,018 cases, to the Accounts Chamber in 688 cases, 336 cases were resolved voluntarily by customers, in 2,688 cases the Committee and territorial departments initiated cases, 485 officials were brought to administrative charges responsibility.
VI. A total of 234 appeals received regarding cases of unfair competition were considered. Based on the results of studying the appeals, 62 cases were initiated, in 47 of them a violation of the Law was recognized and 47 orders were given to eliminate cases of violation of the law.
Also, 15 cases were dismissed due to the fact that violation of the law was not proven.
VII. In order to increase the role of public organizations in protecting consumer rights and considering their appeals, as well as raising cooperation with public organizations to a new level, the Committee signed a new memorandum with the Federation of Consumer Rights Protection Societies.
In total, over the past period, 20,691 complaints were received regarding cases of violation of consumer rights.

7,049 (34 percent) of requests related to housing and communal services, transport services, 8,534 (42.2 percent) – trade and public catering, 4,344 (21 percent) – communications, finance and social services, 764 (3.6 percent) requests – correspond to issues of advertising relations.
In studies conducted to consider appeals, 18,868 consumer rights were found to be violated and funds were recalculated in the amount of 20.68 billion soums.
At the same time, in the field of trade, 1,998 goods worth more than 5.59 billion soums were exchanged or returned to consumers in 720 cases.
The Committee conducted 20 studies and analyzes in various areas in order to protect the rights of an indefinite number of consumers based on requests received from consumers and information provided by other authorities.
In order to control the safety of goods (work, services) and their quality, based on the approved schedule, regular control purchases of retail goods and their examination have been established.
In particular, a test purchase of 397 products was carried out (together with the TV show “Quality Control”), and based on the results of their inspection, it was established that 26 products do not comply with the requirements of regulatory and technical acts.
VIII. An electronic digital monitoring system “Outdoor Advertising” is being introduced, aimed at creating equal conditions for participants in the outdoor advertising market and ensuring transparency in the field.
At the same time, an inventory of outdoor advertising and information objects (structures) was carried out.
A total of 55,217 studies were conducted on the placement and distribution of advertising, including 752 on television, 501 on radio, 44,857 on outdoor advertising media, 633 on print media, 8,474 on the Internet and social networks.
As a result of studies (monitoring) in 27,947 cases, various shortcomings were identified and measures were taken to promptly eliminate them.
364 examinations and analyzes were carried out to determine the compliance of advertising sketches submitted by advertisers with the requirements of current legislation, for 43 (11.8 percent) of which conclusions were given on the non-compliance of advertising sketches with legal requirements.
A total of 61,602 monitoring were carried out in connection with the study of the compliance of advertising in outdoor advertising facilities located on the territory of the republic with the rules of the state language. Of these, 23,409 (38 percent) advertisements were found not to comply with the requirements of the state language.
Of these, 8,272 (35 percent) of signs, external inscriptions and other advertisements, including 4,258 (18 percent) advertising texts were given in other languages ​​(mainly Russian), 7,311 (31 percent) text of signs, external inscriptions and other advertisements contain spelling and dictionary errors, and 3,568 other cases were identified.
IX. In order to prevent violations of the Law “On Competition”, the antimonopoly compliance system was introduced in 2023 – 100, and today – 196, including in the activities of 68 natural monopoly entities, 59 business entities occupying a dominant position in the commodity or financial market, 35 local executive authorities, 15 government bodies and 19 state enterprises.
In addition, in order to more effectively continue activities, ensure timely and high-quality implementation of assigned tasks in 2023, the Committee has developed 40 draft regulations. Of these, 7 draft amendments and additions to the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan, 11 draft Decrees and Decrees of the President, 14 draft resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers, 7 draft decisions of the Committee and 1 draft joint decision were prepared.