| August 17, 2020 The Law “On human trafficking prevention” was signed by the President (new edition). According to the law, the identification of victims of trafficking in persons is carried out in order to identify them and provide them with the necessary assistance and protection, as well as to prevent the risk of their re-involvement in trafficking persons. The Law also defines the procedure for social rehabilitation and adaptation of victims of trafficking. The next provisions are included: provision of material assistance for the period of placement in specialized institutions; provision of temporary housing, food, sanitary and hygienic means, and, if necessary, clothing, footwear and other essential items; provision of assistance in employment, education, vocational guidance and vocational training and retraining; provision of assistance for social reintegration, including assistance in finding relatives. It was established that information about victims of trafficking in persons, alleged victims of trafficking in persons and the circumstances of the crimes committed against them, as well as information about the security measures taken are not subject to disclosure. The law comes into force upon the expiration of 6 months from the date of its official publication. |
| August 24, 2020 President signed the Decree “On measures to radically improve licensing and permission procedures”. During drafting of this Decree more than 100 experts were involved in the process of drafting and also more than 10 thousand entrepreneurs were interviewed. The draft was under public discussion for a month in the special online portal and about 300 proposals were received. These proposals were thoroughly examined and the final Decree reflected pressing issues raised by entrepreneurs. The result is from January, 2021: – more than 100 types of licensed activities and permits are cancelled completely; – the procedure of obtaining 115 licenses and permits will be simplified, for 30 types of licenses merely notification will suffice to start a business; – also all the procedure for licensing, permits and notification will be done only in electronic form. – Issuing of licenses and permits in paper will be abolished, interestingly all the government agencies overall used to spend more than 1,3 million US dollars annually just to publish thousands of license forms, which were designed to protect from fake. Decree also envisages a radical codification so that more than 130 legislative acts in the field of licensing will be united into one central piece. |
| August 31, 2020 On August 31, 1991 The Law “On the foundations of State Independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan” was adopted. According to the Law, objects of state ownership, including property of state enterprises, institutions and organizations, including those under union subordination, their main production, non-production, circulating or other forms and other property, systems of internal communication, transport, communications and energy, republican cartography and geodesy are the property of the Republic of Uzbekistan. |
| September 1, 2020 Starting from 1 September 2020, a new procedure for collecting tax arrears, recognized as hopeless, has been introduced. This innovation is established by the “Regulations on the procedure for writing off tax arrears recognized as uncollectible”, registered by the Ministry of Justice from 30th June 2020, № 3256. The current procedure for writing off tax arrears recognized as uncollectible has been developed in accordance with the Tax Code in the new edition and has completely incorporated new norms and concepts. The document is fundamentally different from the previous one: the criteria for writing off bad tax arrears have been concretized and refined; a procedure has been established for writing off bad tax arrears of foreign legal entities, permanent institutions and legal entities – non-residents of the Republic of Uzbekistan; the number of documents required to write off the collection of bad tax arrears has been reduced; the competent authority that makes the decision has been determined (these are the tax authorities at the location of the legal entity or the place of residence of the individual, as well as tax authorities at the place of registration of the taxpayer or tax agent). Tax debt of individuals is recognized as hopeless for collection when: declaration of bankruptcy of an individual entrepreneur – in case of non-payment of tax debt (its part) due to insufficient property of the debtor; the death of a natural person or the declaration of a natural person as deceased – due to the insufficiency of his property, including in the case of the transfer of inheritance into state ownership; the absence of heirs of a deceased individual or if the heir (s) refuses the right to inherit; Tax debt of legal entities is recognized as hopeless for collection when: liquidation of a legal entity – due to insufficient property of a legal entity and (or) the impossibility of its repayment by the founders of this legal entity within the limits and in the manner prescribed by law (in the manner prescribed by Article 91 of the Tax Code); by a court decision on the loss by the tax authority of the possibility of collecting tax arrears in connection with the expiration of the established period for its collection or a court ruling on refusal to restore the missed deadline for filing an application for collection of tax arrears; deregistration of a foreign legal entity with a tax authority in case of non-payment of tax arrears due to insufficient property of a permanent establishment and the impossibility of its repayment by a legal entity – a non-resident of the Republic of Uzbekistan. After the tax debt is recognized as hopeless, the tax debt is subject to recovery upon re-registration of foreign legal entities with the tax authority or the restoration of their activities. In case of writing off a tax debt recognized as uncollectible, payment of excess payments is not allowed. Penalties and fines that are charged on the tax debt of an individual, recognized as uncollectible, or directed to collection from the heir, are recognized as hopeless to be collected and written off. |
| September 7, 2020 Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan received Anti-Bribery Compliance Certificate (37001) The activities of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan in all areas were studied by the international organization “CERT INTERNATIONAL” (Slovakia). As a result of the study, the Ministry was the first of the state bodies of Uzbekistan to receive an assessment of the compliance of all activities with the international standard ISO 37001: 2016 “Anti- Bribery management system”, included in the international rating and received a certificate confirming this. The anti-bribery management system of the Ministry of Justice consists of internal documents that meet the requirements of an international standard. It provides constant monitoring of the ministry system. This certificate of compliance confirms that the anti- bribery system of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan is properly established in accordance with the international standard, and will also contribute to the further development of contacts and mutual trust with the population and international organizations. |
| September 8, 2020 The Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan from September 8, 2017, № DP-5185 “On approval of the concept of administrative reform in the Republic of Uzbekistan”. The Concept of Administrative Reform in the Republic of Uzbekistan defines 6 main directions of progressive reform of the public administration system. The first direction is devoted to improving the institutional, organizational and legal foundations of the activities of executive authorities. The second direction provides for the specification of tasks, mechanisms for their implementation and areas of responsibility of executive authorities, additionally some measures will be taken to increase the initiative and the role of territorial executive authorities in the formation of development programs, the introduction of a fundamentally new system for assessing the activities of executive authorities at all levels and their leaders based on the achievement of target indicators. The third area is to reduce the administrative impact on the economy and expand market management mechanisms. In the fourth direction, it is envisaged to improve the mechanisms of the vertical management system and interaction of executive authorities, including the phased decentralization of public administration. The fifth area includes measures to introduce modern forms of strategic planning, innovative ideas, developments and technologies into the public administration system. In the sixth direction, the formation of an effective system of professional civil service, as well as the establishment of effective mechanisms for combating corruption are outlined. |
| September 18, 2020 On this day in 2006 The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On brand names” was adopted. According to the Law, legal protection of a company brand is provided starting from the moment of state registration of a legal entity. Illegal use of someone else’s company name entails the imposition of a fine on citizens of 4 million 460 thousand sums (approximately 440$), and on officials – up to 6 million 690 thousand sums (approximately 660$). |
| October 30, 2020 By the Government Resolution the main tasks of the National Legal Information Center “Adolat” were approved. According to the Document Center undertakes the following actions: provide systematic accounting and maintenance of control copies of legislative acts in the National Legislation Database; carry out targeted and substantive legal propaganda to improve legal literacy and legal culture of the population; prepare and distribute information and analytical media materials, provides consulting services for the preparation of the materials; publish printed and electronic periodical social and legal publications; 🔸 prepare draft (project) laws on a contractual basis by order of state bodies and organizations. |
| November 10, 2020 A number of legislative acts will be aligned with the Tax Code. The President signed the Law “On Amendments and Additions to some Legal Acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan”. Thus, 10 laws and 2 codes will be brought in line with the Tax Code. In particular, amendments have been made to the Law “On guarantees of freedom of entrepreneurial activity” according to which the current procedure of examination of the entrepreneurs will be canceled, and the procedure for checking will be brought into full compliance with the Tax Code. In addition, the verification of entrepreneurs will be initiated based on the results of the risk analysis. Henceforth, all audits, with the exception of cameral tax audits, are subject to registration in the electronic system. This Law comes into force from the day of its official publication. |