Parliament passes draft law to tighten penalties for selling expired goods

While current legislation outlaws the sale of expired items and unlabeled products requiring mandatory expiration tracking, enforcement has faced challenges. In practice, regulatory inspections continue to identify numerous retail outlets offering goods that either lack required manufacturing details or have long expired.

The proposed amendments are designed to fortify consumer rights protection and force retailers to maintain strict compliance with inventory tracking and mandatory product labeling standards.

To achieve this, the draft law introduces key amendments to Article 178 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility of Uzbekistan, which handles violations of competition and consumer rights legislation.

The revised framework substantially raises administrative fines for any business found selling expired items. Furthermore, it imposes heavier penalties for both accepting and retailing food products that completely fail to display critical, mandatory data regarding their production date and overall shelf life.