The Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (CCAA) recovered Nu. 2.789 million for aggrieved consumers during FY2025–26, as complaints over refunds, undelivered goods and other market practices increased.
According to the CCAA Annual Report FY2025–26, the authority secured refunds for 24 affected consumers and collected Nu. 67,000 in administrative fines from commercial entities found to be non-compliant.
The authority received 338 complaints between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026, and resolved 334, achieving a dispute resolution rate of 98.82 percent. The caseload comprised 260 consumer grievances and 78 complaints concerning market practices.
Complaint volumes peaked in October 2025, when 74 cases were recorded. Thimphu recorded by far the highest number of complaints, with 248 cases.
Denial of refunds tops complaints
Arbitrary denial of consumer refunds was the most frequently reported unfair trade practice, accounting for 114 cases, or more than one-third of all grievances.
Failure to deliver purchased goods or services was the second-largest category, with 65 cases. Other complaints included defective or contaminated products and substandard goods and services, with 18 cases each, while 15 cases involved breaches of contract terms and 12 concerned price misrepresentation.
Complaints relating to inaccurate weights and measures were relatively low, with nine cases. The CCAA attributed the lower incidence partly to sustained verification of weighing scales at retail establishments.
Beyond resolving disputes, the authority intensified market surveillance, inspecting 3,377 businesses across all 20 dzongkhags—exceeding its annual target of 3,000.
Inspectors identified 295 establishments with statutory violations under the Consumer Protection Act 2012. The most common deficiencies involved uncalibrated weighing equipment, failure to display price lists and failure to issue purchase receipts.
Rather than immediately suspending businesses, the authority provided technical assistance to help the 295 establishments correct the identified deficiencies.
Thimphu accounted for the largest number of inspections, with 507 businesses checked, followed by Chhukha with 279, Punakha with 251, Wangdue with 236 and Mongar with 224.
Price monitoring expands
The authority also continued monitoring prices of essential commodities, publishing quarterly Market Price Information catalogues covering 45 essential items across 22 markets nationwide.
It also introduced a Monthly Price Watch covering six major urban centres—Thimphu, Phuentsholing, Gelephu, Samdrup Jongkhar, Mongar and Trongsa—to track retail price movements and volatility.
The CCAA is exploring external funding to develop a mobile application that could provide real-time price information to consumers.
The authority also completed 13 research studies to support evidence-based economic policy. The studies examined issues including betel nut prices, meat prices in Thimphu Thromde, the impact of Goods and Services Tax on retail prices and consumer spending at the Phuentsholing-Jaigaon border.
Legislative overhaul
The year also marked a significant step towards consolidating Bhutan’s competition and consumer protection framework.
Following nationwide stakeholder consultations conducted across seven dzongkhags between December 2025 and April 2026, the Cabinet directed regulators to consolidate statutory market controls.
The draft Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act and the standalone Competition Bill were subsequently merged into a single legislative proposal, the Consumer Protection and Competition Bill of Bhutan.
The integrated bill is intended to modernise market governance, address emerging risks from digital commerce and establish statutory prohibitions against anti-competitive practices, including commercial cartels.
Financially, the CCAA operated with an approved current budget of Nu. 18.711 million for FY2025–26 and spent Nu. 16.736 million, recording an 89.44 percent budget utilisation rate. It received no capital budget allocation.
The authority reported achieving 100 percent of its key performance indicator targets during the financial year.
The figures indicate that while the authority maintained a high rate of complaint resolution, the volume and nature of complaints continue to expose weaknesses in consumer-facing business practices.
For consumers, the recovery of Nu. 2.789 million represents direct financial redress. For regulators, however, the larger challenge remains preventing disputes from occurring in the first place.
Nidup Lhamo, Thimphu
