Residents of Uzbekistan will receive a refund of one and a half billion sums for oil purchased from Uzum Market under the Oila Tanlovi brand

The Committee for the Development of Competition and Consumer Protection ordered Uzum Market and the sunflower oil producer Buston Food Company to compensate buyers for oil with incorrect expiry dates.

The agency received a request to verify the oil of the marketplace’s own trademark, Oila Tanlovi, for compliance with technical regulations. During the inspection, the committee identified a non-compliance regarding the product’s shelf life.

The GOST 1129-2013 used at that time permits a shelf life of up to 6 months for refined oil, while the manufacturer specified 12 months. Additionally, the label did not specify the technical regulation used (UzTR No724).

The special commission found both companies guilty of breaching Article 6 of the law “On Protection of Consumer Rights”. It mandates that manufacturers and sellers supply “necessary, reliable, and accessible information” about products and services, including manufacturing and expiration dates.

The regulatory body recommended that companies address the problem in one of the following ways:

• within a month, return about 145 thousand bottles of Oila Tanlovi oil with an incorrectly specified shelf life and pay them or replace them with goods of acceptable quality;
• return 1.6 billion soums of revenue received from the sale of oil with violations to consumers or, if it is impossible to identify them, pay them to the budget.

Uzum Market and Buston Food Company attempted to appeal the committee’s order to court, but they rejected the companies’ claims and upheld the decision.

Uzum Market clarified that the expiration date error affected only one batch of Oila Tanlovi oil, which arrived in April 2024. The labels indicated a shelf life of 12 months and comply with international sanitary standards, the company emphasized.

However, since two marking regulations are in effect in Uzbekistan, the recommended oil life is 12 months for one and 6 months for the other. Once the error on the labels was discovered, the entire batch of oil was withdrawn from sale and returned to the manufacturer, — Uzum Market added.

The consumer’s complaint about the oil was received by the Committee last April, and the case was reviewed three months later — in July. The company concluded that the quality and safety of the products fully met the standards, and it was only a matter of an error in the marking.