The Uzbekistan Competition Committee strongly urged companies advertising medical services to comply with current advertising legislation and refrain from providing consumers with false or misleading information.
The agency noted that recent advertisements for medical services often contained claims exaggerating treatment results, safety, or effectiveness. Examples of such statements include promises to permanently cure an illness, guarantee recovery within a few days, ensure absolute safety or absence of side effects, and assertions that all patients will recover.
The Committee warned that guaranteeing the result of a medical service, promising absolute safety, denying contraindications and individual bodily characteristics, or promising patient satisfaction with the outcome may violate legal requirements.
Furthermore, only medical services listed in the practice's license can be advertised. According to Article 16 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan 'On Advertising,' improper advertising is defined as advertising that misleads or may mislead consumers due to inaccuracies, ambiguity, exaggeration, concealment of information, violation of requirements regarding time, place, and method of dissemination, as well as other legal norms.
In accordance with Article 47 of this law, disseminating improper advertising or refusing to provide counter-advertising entails a fine of 70 times the established base calculation cost. The Committee also reminded that according to Article 7 of the Law 'On Consumer Protection,' damage caused to a consumer as a result of purchasing goods, work, or services based on false advertising or information must be fully compensated by the manufacturer, service provider, or seller.
The Competition Committee stated that it conducts systematic monitoring of medical service advertising and strongly requested enterprises to bring their promotional materials into compliance with current legislation.
