Large retail chains SMALL, METRO, and Esentai Gourmet in Almaty have been held accountable for violations in pricing and trade markup by the Trade Committee of the Ministry of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan. The retailers were warned once before but continued to receive complaints about no price tags, selling the same product at different prices, and refusing purchases during announced promotions. The audit also uncovered more serious offenses such as disregard for the decree on maintaining minimum prices for socially important food products. This year, the Committee for Trade and Consumer Protection has seen a doubling of trade law violation cases, with the majority being related to exceeding the trade markup for socially significant products, using different prices, and the absence of price tags.