It is not fair to impose a fine of 300,000 sums for non-payment of a debt of 150,000 soums – Norboyeva

It is not fair to impose a fine of 300,000 sums for non-payment of a debt of 150,000 sums.  This opinion was expressed today, June 22, by Senate Chairman Tanzila Norboyeva at the forty-second plenary session of the Senate.

The fact is that the law “On amendments and additions to the Code of Administrative Responsibility of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with the improvement of the procedure for determining the amount of administrative fines imposed for non-execution of executive documents” was discussed at this meeting.  

During the discussion, it was noted that there are still some shortcomings in ensuring the execution of executive documents.  According to the new law, if the debtor does not pay the debt on time according to the enforcement document, the Bureau of Compulsory Enforcement will impose an administrative fine on the debtor, and the amount of this fine will be the administrative liability.  According to the Code, it is established by law that fines can be set from 300,000 to 1.5 million sums for citizens, and from 1.5 million to 3 million sums for officials.

In particular, there is a rule that the amount of the applied fine cannot be higher than the amount specified in the executive document.

Also, Chairman of the Senate Tanzila Norboyeva said that the innovation introduced into the Code of Administrative Responsibility is really very important.

“Imposing a fine of 300,000 sums for non-payment of a debt of 150,000 sums is certainly not fair.  In addition, such a practice completely contradicts the new constitutional rule, that is, the rule that the measure of legal influence applied to a citizen should be based on the principle of proportionality and be sufficient,” said Norboyeva.

He noted that the rule that administrative fines can be applied not by any executive of the Central Executive Bureau, but only by the executive staff is also noteworthy.

Also, the Chief State Executive of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Karakalpag, is now responsible for considering cases of administrative offenses and applying administrative penalties, provided for in Article 1981 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility.  It is determined that the chief state executives of the Republic of Estonia, regions and the city of Tashkent, their deputies, as well as heads of district (city) departments of the Bureau of Compulsory Enforcement are entitled.