The Commissioner under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs (Business Ombudsman) in January-September of this year carried out a number of measures aimed at developing entrepreneurship, protecting their rights and legitimate interests.

                                   I.            Work that has been performed

1. 1, 311 out of 3, 718 enquiries of entrepreneurs were resolved in favor of entrepreneurs, on 2, 027 enquiries legal advice, 256 enquiries were sent to the relevant institutions.

2. On the revealed violations, the Business Ombudsman filed 193 submissions, 105 warnings, 37 opinions, 120 claims worth 47.2 billion soums in favor of entrepreneurs and 16 complaints against court decisions that entered into legal force were submitted to state institutions, as well as in respect of 498 authorities the Business Ombudsman filed protocols on an administrative offense and brought to the court.

As a result, 336 officials were brought to disciplinary responsibility, the courts satisfied claims worth 37.8 billion soums, 381 authorities were imposed to administrative penalty, 14.8 billion soums were returned to entrepreneurs. The rest of the enquires is being considered. 

3. 18 regulatory authorities filed 1 338 applications for inspections of entrepreneurs' activities, of which 918 (69%) were approved, and the remaining 420 (31%) were refused by the Business Ombudsman due to lack of legal grounds.

148 officials of regulatory bodies were brought to administrative responsibility for violating the prescribed procedures of conducting inspections in the activities of entrepreneurs.

In addition, the Business Ombudsman made 44 submissions against officials for non-compliance with the procedure for conducting inspections of the activities of entrepreneurs and the use of unreasonable measures of influence against business entities. As a result, 190 officials were brought to disciplinary responsibility, 150 illegal decisions worth 2.9 billion soums were canceled.

4. In the Ferghana region, the concept "Entrepreneur of Fergana - a reformer in Fergana" has been implemented and within its framework the Business Ombudsman carried out work in 4 most problematic for entrepreneurs areas.

To implement business initiatives, 960 (previously 210) land plots were put up for auction in the “E-auksion” system, and over three months the land sales increased 4.5 times compared to the previous five months.

In addition, 269 (previously 37) land plots were sold at auctions, which is 7.5 times higher than the figures for the previous five months.

As a result of these measures, it is estimated that investments in the amount of 235.8 billion soums will be attracted in the regions for the development of entrepreneurial activity, that will consequently create approximately 1,591 new jobs.

As a result of filing 24 legal measures (15 protocols on administrative offenses, 8 submissions, 1 warning) to the state bodies, violations of the terms of allocation of land plots for sale at the auction platform “E-auksion” were eliminated.

As a result, 8, 268 land plots (previously 6, 854) were put up for auction in the “E-auksion” system in two months, and land sales increased by 120% compared to the previous seven months.

In addition, 3, 016 (previously 2, 149) land plots were sold at auctions throughout the country, which is 140% more than in the last seven and a half months.

As a result, it is estimated that for development of entrepreneurial activity in the regions of the country the investments in the amount of 1.7 trillion soums will be attracted, that can consequently create about 18 thousand new jobs.

At the same time, 27 empty state facilities in the Fergana region, which were not put up for auction, were put up for sale at an auction, as a result of which there were no empty state facilities left for auction.

Of the 117 state-owned facilities put up for sale, 50 objects were sold to entrepreneurs for 12 billion soums, subject to attracting investments in the amount of 13 billion soums and creating 317 new jobs, and 50 state-owned facilities were leased for 230 million soums.

As a result of the sale at auction of 109 empty state facilities in the regions of the republic and the introduction of 29 legal measures to attract potential investors, measures are currently being taken to put up for auction 90 state facilities.

5. Based on the results of monitoring all processes till launching imported technological equipment, that was carried out by working groups in the regions, 548 business entities launched 1,170 units of technological equipment worth 90 million US dollars out of 1,630 imported technological equipment worth 222 million US dollars, which were imported by 808 entrepreneurs. As a result, more than 6,000 new jobs have been created. To date, work is underway to launch the remaining equipment.

6.132 normative legal acts developed by ministries and departments were considered, and as a result 221 proposals were made

7. The Office of the Business Ombudsman monitored the application of exemptions provided by the Decrees of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan during the coronavirus pandemic, as a result of which appropriate measures were taken and 1,166 entrepreneurs were allocated exemptions worth 61.9 billion soums. At the same time, the application of exemptions and the provision of loans for 453.2 billion soums to 443 business entities were ensured.

8. The Business Ombudsman is taking measures to improve the business environment in 7 regions of the country with an "unsatisfactory" indicator of business environment, and to date, meetings have been held with entrepreneurs in 11 districts (Nukus, Takhiatash, Shumanaysky, Yangikurgan, Minbulak, Khankinsky, Shavatsky, Balykchinsky, Dzhalakuduksky, Markhamskiy). During the meetings, 37 of the 205 issues raised by entrepreneurs were resolved straightaway, the implementation of the remaining ones was taken under supervision.

In addition, in all 18 districts, systemic problems in the field of land allocation, cadastre, access to infrastructure, permits, licensing, etc. were identified and submitted for discussion to the Councils of People's Deputies, while in 15 districts measures on elimination of those problems were considered and identified.

I.                  Targeted measures

1. Drafting Entrepreneurial Code aimed at strengthening the legal, socio-economic conditions and guarantees that provide full codification of legislation in the field of entrepreneurial activity, and guarantees the freedom of entrepreneurial activity;

2. Submission to the Oliy Majlis of the draft law "On guarantees of the legality of entrepreneurial activity", which establishes the principles, bases and systematic procedure for state control over the activities of business entities;

3. Development of proposals aimed at reduce the number of functions of regulatory bodies through partial transfer of those functions to public control bodies;

4. Improvement of the unified system of electronic registration of inspections, including launch of the service "SMS-notification" of entrepreneurs about upcoming inspections;

5. Proceeding the work of the working groups under the leadership of the Business Ombudsman on monitoring the process prior to the launching stage of imported technological equipment;

6. Regular study of compliance with the legislation on guarantees of freedom of entrepreneurial activity by state and regulatory authorities;

7. Taking measures to implement the concept "Entrepreneur of Fergana - reformer in Fergana" in all regions of the country;

8. Establishing the cooperation with the competent authorities of the Republic of Korea, Poland, Ukraine and the Kyrgyz Republic to protect the rights and legitimate interests of business entities;

9. Implementation of the project in cooperation with the German International Konrad Adenauer Foundation aimed at attracting the youth and women of the republic to entrepreneurship and subsequently increasing their income.

10. Implementation of the project “Promoting Transparency and Action against economic crime” in cooperation with the Bureau of Economic Crimes of the Council of Europe.