Uzbek watchdog gets two public tenders cancelled and counts 573 state-body breaches

Uzbekistan's Competition Committee said it had two public tenders cancelled within three weeks for signs of restricted competition, and reported 573 cases in the first half of 2026 in which state and local bodies acted contrary to competition law, according to posts on its official Telegram channel. The committee also said it had proposed the changes behind two new rule sets on outdoor advertising and on energy consumers. All the figures below come from the committee's own accounts and have not been independently verified.

Two tenders cancelled

In the first case, the committee examined a tender for medical equipment run by the Procurement Centre under the Ministry of Health after a complaint from Skymed-Technologies LLC, according to its post of 28 September. The tender had an initial price of 14 billion, in a currency the post does not name. The committee found the Procurement Centre did not comply with Article 29 of the Law "On Competition", identifying actions that restrict or could lead to restricting competition in the tender, and the tender was cancelled in the prescribed manner.

The second case concerned a selection tender by Telecom Soft LLC to buy devices for automated traffic-rule enforcement systems, with a starting price of 10.3 billion soum, held on 12 October, the committee said in a post of 14 October. It examined the tender after a critical social media article, which the post identifies by a title that translates as one address, one phone, two competitors. The post does not confirm the article's claims. The committee found that Telecom Soft did not comply with Article 29, and the company cancelled the tender voluntarily.

What the monitoring found

The committee's wider monitoring covered 69 local state authority bodies and 54 state administration bodies in the first half of 2026, according to a post of 29 September. It recorded 573 cases of actions that violated competition law requirements, and assessed the competitive effect of more than 80 existing regulatory acts and more than 500 draft acts. The post does not break the 573 cases down by type or body.

For the second half of 2026 the committee plans a full review of exclusive rights in current legislation and of the registry of companies that hold them, with proposals to abolish absolute or exclusive rights that lack a current necessity or economic basis, the post says. Its monitoring will extend to four ministries and agencies and four regional administrations, with a focus on public procurement and outdoor advertising.

Rule changes and price checks

Outdoor advertising is the first of those areas to see new rules. The committee said Cabinet of Ministers decree No. 563 of 13 October 2026 was adopted on the basis of its proposals, in a post of 16 October. Under the decree, a business name, activity type, company name or trademark displayed on the outside of a building or at its entrance is not classed as outdoor advertising and needs no advertising-place passport. Companies can display their own trademark and product information on vehicles they own through an electronic notice on the unified public services portal, which issues the passport automatically and without a fee.

The decree also lets short-term advertising stay up for up to 30 days for holidays and events and until completion at construction sites, requires design-code decisions to follow public consultation and take effect three months after publication, and sets rules for mandatory demolition, according to the same post. Owners must get two days' notice on the website and in writing, demolition may take place only on working days between 09:00 and 18:00, and an act recording the date, reason and photographs must be drawn up with the owner present.

On energy, the committee said Presidential Decree No. 202 of 22 September 2026 changed consumer rules at its proposal, in a post of 25 September. Consumers disconnected for debt no longer pay an extra reconnection fee, and the post says households would otherwise have paid two base calculation values and legal entities ten. Greenhouses with no debt in the previous month pay 50 per cent of natural gas costs in advance from October to March, and 100 per cent in advance in later months.

The committee also reported refunds ordered after reviews of paid medical services. In Karakalpakstan it found seven facilities had overcharged consumers by a total of 331.7 million soum, opened cases against six, and said the measures reduced some tariffs by an average of 16.22 per cent, according to a post of 15 October. It cited Article 21 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law in finding that a Samarkand oncology branch overcharged by 302.2 million soum, and said Sirdaryo branches were ordered to refund overcharged funds.