The President signed a new decree on the activities of entrepreneurs

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev yesterday, 9 November, signed the decree "On measures to simplify the state regulation of business activities." You can read the full text of the decree below.

Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Determining the clear goals and limits of business regulations, creating favorable conditions for the introduction of new products and services by business entities, and reducing the regulatory burden for them, as well as the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated 28 January 2022 - To ensure the implementation of Decree No. PF-60 "On the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2026":

1. The proposal of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Alleviation, the Representative for the Protection of the Rights and Legal Interests of Business Entities, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to regulate business activities by the state only through the following means use:

• state registration of business entities;
• introduction of licensing, permitting, and notification procedures for certain types of activities of business entities;
• technical regulation;
• definition and notarial regulation;
• mandatory liability insurance of business entities following the law;
• state control;
• protection of competition;
• establishing the responsibility of business entities and their officials by law;
• introduction of reports;
• introduction of self-management based on membership (participation) in a self-regulatory organization.

Other means of regulating business activities may be established by law.

2. It should be noted that:

• means of state regulation of business activities, ensuring the safety of human life and health, protection of legal interests of goods, works, and services produced and sold by business entities, and environmental protection to ensure state security and create favorable conditions for the development of entrepreneurship, it is introduced only based on regulatory documents in the field of regulatory, legal and technical regulation;

• regulatory instruments defined in documents that are not considered regulatory documents in the field of regulatory or technical regulation do not have legal consequences.

3. The following requirements should be canceled from 1 January 2023:

• to notify creditors in writing when a decision is made to reduce the authorized fund (authorized capital) of the business entity and announce it in the mass media;

• sale of new imported cars is carried out only by legal entities - official dealers of manufacturing enterprises;

• suspending the supply of electricity to legal entities that have consumed electricity over the volumes specified in the electricity supply contract (monthly contractual amount);

• to register employees hired by an individual entrepreneur in the Unified National Labor System in a separate account in the state tax service authorities.

4. Establish such a procedure that following it from 1 March 2023:

• taxpayers are given the right to appeal directly to the court on the decisions made by tax authorities on the results of mobile tax inspections and tax audits;

• all legal entities, regardless of the form of ownership, are allowed to provide commercial services through the Unified Interactive State Services Portal, in compliance with information security requirements.  In this case, the procedure for providing non-governmental services through the Unified interactive state services portal is determined by the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications Development and the legal entity providing the service;

• It is not allowed to carry out orders for public procurement, the sum of which is 3,500 times the amount of the base calculation and above, which is carried out by the decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers, based on direct contracts;

• direct contracts between the ministry (department, institution) and the organization (institution) within it for goods (works, services) whose value is 3,500 times the amount of the basic calculation and more It is prohibited to purchase according to

5. Starting from 1 January 2023, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Alleviation, and the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications Development will allow new products and services based on modern technologies of business entities that are legal entities in the fields following Appendix 1, or to approve the proposal to introduce a special legal regime "Regulatory Sandbox" (hereinafter - Special legal regime), which provides for special regulation of the activity of testing the results of other intellectual activities in a controlled limited environment.

6. Establish such a procedure that following it from 1 January 2023:

a) Under the special legal regime, business entities are allowed to:

• non-compliance with the norms of some legislative documents by special regulation of activities in the areas of development, approval, and introduction of new products and services within a limited time, territory, and persons;

• carrying out activities without a license and without passing authorization procedures, except documents with the nature of licenses and authorizations, which contain information that is state secret and whose use is restricted following the law;

b) The special legal regime is introduced based on a separate agreement for each project between the relevant authorized body and the initiator. In this:
• the agreement specifies the requirements and conditions of project implementation, including the term, territory, and scope of persons, the list of legal norms that do not apply to the initiator, and the criteria (indicators) for evaluating project results;

• the term of validity of the Special Legal Regime for each project is a maximum of three years;

v) According to the results of the special legal regime, the relevant authorized body shall, within one month:

• an analysis is conducted regarding the expediency of introducing the tested products and services;

• when it is deemed appropriate to introduce products and services, proposals for improving legislative documents are developed.

• The Cabinet of Ministers should approve the temporary regulation on the procedure for the introduction of the special legal regime of the "Regulatory Sandbox", including the "roadmap" for its implementation in specific areas by 1 January 2023.

The Ministry of Justice, together with the Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Alleviation, the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications Development, and relevant competent bodies, issued the "On Special Legal Regime" based on the results of the analysis of the projects where the special legal regime was introduced until 1 January 2025. Develop a draft law and submit it to the Cabinet of Ministers in the prescribed manner.

7. By the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. PF-60 dated 28 January 2022, all mandatory requirements related to entrepreneurship are included in the single electronic register of mandatory requirements in the field of entrepreneurship (hereinafter - the Single Register), repetitive and obsolete note that the procedure for revising mandatory requirements has been introduced.

8. Let it be noted that:

a) The single register includes all the requirements established by the means of regulating business activities, their terms, financial costs related to them, documents confirming compliance with the requirements, control bodies, inspection forms, and accountability measures;

b) Information is entered into the unified register by authorized state bodies and organizations regulating the relevant field;

v) The Ministry of Justice is the operator of the Unified Register, systematically ensures the maintenance of the Unified Register, and also coordinates the activities of state bodies and organizations in this field;

g) The single register is formed in the following stages:

in the first stage (2023) - a list of mandatory requirements in the fields of construction, trade, catering, education, and transport will be formed;

in the second stage (2024-2025) - a list of mandatory requirements in all areas will be formed;

d) In the process of creating a single register, the relevance of mandatory requirements will be critically analyzed, regulatory effects will be assessed, and their number will be reduced;

e) The single register will be fully operational from 1 July 2025.  In this case, liability for non-fulfillment of mandatory requirements not included in the Unified Register is not established, and it is prohibited to check the fulfillment of mandatory requirements not included in the Unified Register by state bodies and organizations.

The scheme of forming a single register should be approved following Appendix 2.

The Ministry of Justice should submit to the Cabinet of Ministers for approval the procedure for creating, maintaining, and updating information on the Unified Register within two months.

9. The working group on reducing the regulatory burden for business entities (hereinafter - the Working Group) should be established following Appendix 3.

The working group (J. Khodzhayev) should form small working groups consisting of experts from relevant organizations and organize work to reduce mandatory requirements and form their unified register following paragraph 8 of this Decree.

10. The plan of measures to create additional convenience for business entities and reduce bureaucratic obstacles in the field should be approved following Annex 4.

11. The Ministry of Justice, together with the relevant ministries and agencies, within three months:

• ensure that the implementation mechanisms of the new procedures introduced by this decree are provided for in the draft of the Entrepreneurship Code;

• submit proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers on amendments and additions to legislative documents resulting from this Decree.

12. Deputy Prime Minister J.A. Khodjayev, Minister of Justice R.Q. Davletov, and D.S. Kasimov, the representative for the protection of the rights and legal interests of business entities, shall be designated as responsible and personally liable for the effective implementation of this decree.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan A.N. Aripov shall be responsible for discussing the implementation of the decree, and coordinating and controlling the activities of the agencies responsible for the implementation.

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Shavkat Mirziyoyev

Tashkent city, 9 November 2022