The term "vertical agreement" refers to arrangements between a buyer and a seller.
If such agreements restrict active and passive sales of goods and services online, it is proposed to ban them and declare them invalid.
The bill was submitted by the Cabinet for parliamentary consideration at the end of February.
Information:
Active online sales imply that the distributor independently promotes their goods online: launching advertising campaigns, targeting customers in specific regions, and using marketing through their website.
Passive online sales occur when a customer independently finds the distributor online and places an order. In this case, the distributor did not conduct advertising activities in that region—the customer came to them on their own.
According to the bill, suppliers will be prohibited from restricting both types of sales. This implies that the supplier will not be able to:
- completely prohibit the dealer from online sales;
- prevent the dealer from selling through marketplaces or their own online store;
- restrict online sales to a specific territory (for example, limiting sales to Bishkek only);
- set quotas on the share of online sales (for example, "no more than 20% of the total sales volume through the internet");
- require the dealer to have a physical store before starting online sales;
- establish different pricing policies for online and offline channels.
