Committee on Competition Examines Complaints on Wholesale Medication Procurement Terms

Complaints about this practice have appeared on social media. If the committee recognizes it as a violation, companies face a fine of 5% of their revenue from selling goods for the entire period of the violation, considering no more than the last three years. The names of the companies being complained about have not been disclosed by the agency, and the results of the inspection have not been reported.

According to Article 18 of the Law "On Competition", abuse of superior negotiating power includes, in particular, imposing additional conditions when concluding a contract - for example, the obligation to buy another product. The committee believes that such requirements can limit the work of small businesses and harm competition. According to the agency's estimates, this practice can force small pharmacies to spend money on drugs they did not plan to purchase.

According to the committee, from January to September 2026, 305 enterprises imported medications into the country, with five of them accounting for 47.2% of all imports. As of October 1, 14,598 pharmacies were operating in Uzbekistan, including 14,149 retail and 449 wholesale pharmacies. Compared to 2023, there are fewer main retail pharmacies - 7,940 versus 8,584, and more branches - 6,209 versus 4,639. There were 521 wholesale pharmacies in 2023.