Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The government of Uzbekistan has again postponed the mandatory labeling of water and soft drinks. It was originally scheduled to start in October 2022, but the process was delayed until July, and now - until March 2024.

On 30 June, Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov signed a resolution to extend the deadline for the start of mandatory labeling of carbonated and still water and drinks.

Initially, the labeling was planned to begin in October 2022, then it was postponed until 1 July 2023, and now until 1 March 2024.

Labeling in the Asl Belgisi system, as well as measures to control it, will be introduced in stages in 2023-2024. During the implementation of the project, the experience of last year’s pilot project will be taken into account.

The labeling requirement will come into force for both local producers and importers:

- for the first group (carbonated and non-carbonated water, drinks, as well as non-fermented sweetened fruit and vegetable juices, except for grape) - from 1 March 2024;

- for the second group (water and drinks in metal containers) - from 1 August 2024 (unchanged).

The introduction of digital labeling of goods was announced in December 2018. In 2019, the operator of the system became known - CRPT Turon, owned by Alisher Usmanov’s USM holding and Rostec (previously he was entrusted with the same function in Russia). Now the founder is Digital Holding (100%), which is owned by the State Assets Management Agency (49%), Digital Invest (46.1%) and Vadim Kim (4.9%).

In the summer of 2021, water and beverage manufacturers called for a suspension of the labeling pilot project because they believe it is not economically viable. Labeling company CRPT Turon dismissed their concerns as a "myth".

On 15 April, 2022, mandatory labeling of household appliances began. One code costs 68 soums (excluding VAT), Spot reported.

The United States imposed sanctions against Digital Invest. At the same time, the US Treasury made an exception and issued a perpetual license for any transactions, including the sale of American goods and technologies, in favor of MegaFon or Digital Invest, if these transactions are aimed at providing telecommunications services in Tajikistan or Uzbekistan.