Journal

A presidential decree “On measures to further deepen reforms and expand the export potential of the textile and garment-and-knitwear industry” dated February 12, 2019, provides for measures aimed at supporting and developing the textile and garment-and-knitting sector of economy.
In particular, it has been established that as of April 1, 2019, an order in compliance with which:

Under the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On measures for further liberalization of trade and development of competition in the commodity markets” as of October 30, 2018 (hereinafter “Decree”), relevant measures have been undertaken to develop wholesale and exchange trade, develop retail networks, as well as the use of modern information technologies by business entities.
In particular, there have been undertaken the measures on abolishing the followings to be effective from January 1, 2019:

The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan passed on October 11, 2018 and published on October 12, introduced amendments to the Civil and Tax Codes, which raised the issue of the procedure for drawing up and the forms of agreements for the sale and lease of real estate.
In particular, a significant change is that if in the past only the conclusion of a contract for the sale of residential premises required mandatory notarization, then now the sale of any real estate, that is, including non-residential ones, shall be formalized by way of drawing up and signing of a single document by the parties and its compulsory notarization.

In connection with undertaken moves on the liberalization of the foreign currency policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan (Decree No.УП-5917 of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated September 29, 2017 “On introduction of changes and amendments into certain acts of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, which lost their force), as well as on measures on saturation of the market with goods and commodities and development of competitive environment (Decree №-5303 of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated January 16, 2018 “On measures on further securing the country’s food safety”) changes have been introduced into a number of legal acts related to requirements as regards minimum amount of statutory fund of individual entrepreneurial entities.

Reforming the foreign exchange market was launched in compliance with the Presidential Decree №УП-5177 dated the 2nd of September 2017 “On priority measures on liberalization of foreign exchange policy” . The following can be stated after summarizing the changes that affected the procedure for maintaining accounts and mutual settlements in foreign currency on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

1. Amendments introduced into the “Order for maintaining accounts in foreign currency by commercial banks” (reg. №511 of the Ministry of Justice dated the 22nd of October 1998).
Firstly, changes have been introduced related to permissible sources of transfer of foreign currency amounts to accounts of legal entities-residents of Uzbekistan:

The Resolution №ПП-3351 of the President dated the 3rd of November 2017 “On measures on further liberalization of external trade activities and support of entities of entrepreneurship” had significantly reviewed the legal regulation of external economic operations, in particular, the order of calculations on export.

Regarding the export
As of the 1st of December 2017:
1. A single deadline shall be established, after which the accounts receivable on export contracts shall be considered overdue, these include 120 calendar days. The term shall be calculated in the following way:

The ongoing reforms indicate that the Government aims to turn Uzbekistan into one of the largest global exporters of fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products. The Action Strategy on 5 priority directions of Uzbekistan’s development for 2017-2021, approved by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the 7th of February 2017, envisages the implementation of 434 projects aimed at modernization and intensive development of rural economy. It also provides for setting up 14 trade and logistical centers in the provinces for processing, storage, packaging and exporting fruit and vegetable products with a capacity of more than 310 thousand tons till the year 2020. Availability of relevant infrastructure, which would secure high quality delivery, storage, sorting, grading, packaging, certification as well as exporting, will have to be taken into consideration in the process of their establishment. This is the expected way to achieve a 1,4 times increase in the production of food products, double the output of processed fruit and vegetable products and 2,3 times growth in the export of fruit and vegetable products in 2017-2021.

There are 14 free economic zones (FEZ) set up and operating in 10 regions of Uzbekistan today.
If initially the tax and legal regime of the first three economic zones had differed and they were “free industrial economic zones” , then, following the provisions of the Decree № УП-4853 of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated October 26, 2016 “On additional measures on activating and expanding the activities of free economic zones” these zones were renamed into “Navoi”, “Angren” and Jizzakh: free economic zones respectively, and a single legal regime was established for them, while their tax and customs breaks and privileges were unified. Same privileges with the same terms and conditions have been awarded also to subsequently established free economic zones.
Thus, the legal regulation of free economic zones’ activities went along the road of their unification with certain specific features for each FEZ.

Two normative acts, passed already at the beginning of the academic year in the field of non-public education services, turned into an important event for investors which carry out their activities in this sphere. Thus, the Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan №ПП-3276 “On Measures on Further Development of Activities on Rendering Non-Public Educational Services” dated September 14, 2017 outlined the most important changes and priviliges in this area.