Uzbekistan to increase responsibility for pressure on business
There has been an important shift in the legislative life of Uzbekistan aimed at strengthening the rights of farmers and entrepreneurs. Last week, on October 7, deputies of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis approved in the first reading a package of amendments that introduces strict liability for officials for unlawful interference in commercial activities.
The initiative was a response to numerous signals from the field. As MP Mukaddaskhon Akhmedova emphasized during the meeting, the agricultural sector systematically faces problems in the sale of its products. The presented bill is directly aimed at eliminating the practice when officials influence economic processes by creating barriers to the free movement of goods and services across the country.
The mechanism for implementing this protection will be consolidated through amendments to key legislative acts. In particular, it is proposed to supplement article 241-1 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility and article 192-1 of the Criminal Code, both of which relate to violations of private property rights. The innovations will establish a clear responsibility of officials for interfering in such fundamental aspects of business as the selection of a product range, pricing and distribution channels. At the same time, the repeated commission of such a misdemeanor after the imposition of an administrative penalty will entail criminal prosecution.
The problem is not hypothetical. Earlier, incidents illustrating the scale of administrative interference came to the public field. Entrepreneurs have encountered situations where unspoken bans on the transportation of cotton seeds were imposed at the posts of the road patrol service on the borders of the regions, based, according to them, on oral orders from local khokims. The story received a wide response when Senator Gavkhar Alimova, khokim of Kattakurgan district, was forced to publicly appeal to khokim of Kashkadarya region Murotjon Azimov, who, according to her, restricted the export of seeds from his region to the Samarkand region.
In addition to protecting against direct interference, the bill resolves a long-standing legal conflict related to the rights to leased land. Current regulations prohibit government employees from engaging in entrepreneurship, which created insurmountable difficulties for heads of farms during the transition to civil service. They were often forced to abandon the case, unable to legally transfer control even to close relatives. The proposed amendments eliminate this legal vacuum: now the head of the household will be able to officially transfer the rights and obligations under the lease agreement to one of his family members for the rest of the term.
Another important innovation is the legalization of partial sublease of land plots. The developers of the bill note that this will increase the efficiency of agricultural land use. Farmers who, due to lack of financial or technical resources, cannot develop the entire leased area will have the right to sublet part of it to other farmers, thereby involving idle land in turnover and receiving additional income.
At the moment, the bill has successfully passed the first reading. It will be further considered in the lower house of parliament in the second and third readings, after which, if approved, it will be sent for approval to the Senate of the Oliy Majlis.
In addition to large farms, dehkan (personal subsidiary) farms play a huge role in the structure of agriculture in Uzbekistan. Occupying a relatively small share of arable land, they produce more than 65% of the country's total gross agricultural output, especially in such segments as vegetable growing, potato growing, melon growing and fruit growing.