Azerbaijan activates anti-cartel radar Strengthening the fight for consumer rights

Azerbaijan has taken significant steps to protect consumer rights and ensure fair market practices with the establishment of the State Service for Antimonopoly and Consumer Market Control. Alongside updates to antimonopoly legislation, these measures aim to create an environment for effective regulation across various sectors of the economy.

By promoting free competition and enhancing investment attractiveness, Azerbaijan is encouraging the inflow of investment and the creation of new enterprises, which in turn support higher employment levels. Building on these efforts, the country is now developing digital tools to further strengthen market regulation and consumer protection. Recently, the President approved the Regulation on the Electronic Competition Information System and amended the decree of July 9, 2024, that established the system, marking a major step toward a more transparent and competitive market.

In recent years, Azerbaijan has taken significant steps to combat unfair competition and monopolistic practices while strengthening consumer protection. In July 2024, the new Competition Code came into force, followed by the development of various regulatory and legal frameworks to support its implementation. Efforts were also made to enhance standardisation and ensure transparency in electronic public procurement. In February of last year, the State Service for Antimonopoly and Consumer Market Control, previously under the Ministry of Economy, was elevated in status and reorganised into a State Agency reporting directly to the President of Azerbaijan.

Over the past two years, Azerbaijan has taken further steps to optimise activities in this area. Notably, a National Action Plan for 2024–2026 has been developed to expand the competitive environment and prevent monopolistic practices. Work is also underway on a Competitiveness Index, accompanied by a country-level competition map — an open digital platform that will provide detailed information on market structures and participants across all regions of the country.

A key component of this effort is the Electronic Competition Information System, designed to handle inquiries from both consumers and market participants regarding competition and consumer protection issues. The system will allow real-time collection of relevant documents and information from other government agencies, the electronic issuance of decisions and responses, and provide all users with access to up-to-date market information.

With the start of 2026, significant developments have taken place in Azerbaijan’s efforts to strengthen market regulation and consumer protection. This week, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree approving the “Regulation on the Electronic Competition Information System” (ERİS) and amending the July 9, 2024 decree that established this digital platform. Under the decree, the State Service for Antimonopoly and Consumer Market Control is tasked with managing, organising, and developing ERİS. In coordination with the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport (MDDT), the Agency will ensure the system is included in the Unified Register of State Information Resources, Systems, and Electronic Services and the State Register of Information Resources and Personal Data Systems.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economy is finalising ERİS’s structure, while the MDDT will integrate it into the e-government system by hosting the portal on the “Government Cloud.” The State Service for Special Communication and Information Security will provide secure telecommunications channels for ERİS and monitor its compliance with security standards.

So, what are the objectives of this digital platform, and how will it benefit ordinary consumers in Azerbaijan?

As international experience in consumer protection shows (UNCTAD, GOV.UK, ADA Global), digital systems have been increasingly used in recent years to monitor competition and combat unfair cartel practices in retail trade and wholesale imports. Key measures also include the adoption of digital market laws (for example, the DMCC Act 2024 in the United Kingdom), the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for price monitoring, mandatory transparency of marketplace algorithms, and the protection of personal data.

In particular, digital information systems help ensure that marketplace algorithms do not manipulate consumer choices or inflate prices. Among other benefits, these digital tools increase trust in e-commerce, which accounts for a significant share of retail in developed countries. Electronic information systems provide transparency by allowing consumers to access reliable product information, reducing the risk of purchasing counterfeit goods. At the same time, monitoring systems for the automatic detection of counterfeits and plagiarism prevent the misuse of trademarks and the imitation of packaging, both in offline retail networks and on digital trading platforms.

Azerbaijan is following a similar approach, seeking to expand the capabilities of digital platforms for collecting and analysing data on competition law, maintaining records of business entities, and more. The ERİS system will enable real-time monitoring of market competition and the identification of potential violations. The system is designed to facilitate feedback: for example, it will be able to receive and process complaints from consumers and market participants regarding competition breaches, and this up-to-date information will be published on the portal, making it accessible to all users.

By comparison, today the main “vent” for citizens whose consumer rights have been violated is through media publications and social media posts. Unfortunately, despite public attention, the effectiveness of mass media in resolving issues in trade and service sectors is limited, as there is no mechanism for oversight or feedback. In contrast, the creators of ERİS are building this mechanism on principles of transparency, giving the system a real chance to become an effective tool for protecting consumer rights.

Moreover, this platform will provide all users with accessible electronic document circulation with various government agencies, as well as the provision of decisions and responses in digital format, reducing paperwork and other bureaucratic delays. Among other uses, ERİS is also planned to be applied for monitoring public procurement and ensuring compliance with antimonopoly legislation in tender procedures.

“The creation of the Electronic Competition Information System will make an important contribution to improving the environment of free competition for business entities, as well as enhancing public participation and the protection of consumer rights,” Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Economy, said last year on his X (formerly Twitter) account. “The application of innovations in the country’s economy stimulates sustainable economic development by increasing transparency and digitalisation.”