EXPERT OPINION
New rules for examination
of disputes in Uzbekistan
In furtherance of the judicial
reform in the Republic of
Uzbekistan initiated by the
President of the Republic of
Uzbekistan in February 2017,
the Republic of Uzbekistan
adopted new codes of procedure
(the “Codes”) in January 2018,
which established new rules for
examination of disputes in the
Republic of Uzbekistan, specifically:
* the Code of Civil Procedure of the
Republic of Uzbekistan (the “CCP”) 1 Thus, the CCP regulates the
procedure for examination of
disputes by courts of general
jurisdiction (mainly civil disputes,
one of the parties to which is an
individual). The CEP applies to
examination of disputes
arising in the economic sphere
between companies and individuals
having the status of individual
entrepreneurs. The procedure
for examination of cases in
administrative courts is determined
in accordance with the CAP.
* the Code of Economic Procedure
of the Republic of Uzbekistan (the
“CEP”) 2 Certain novelties introduced in
connection with the adoption of
the Codes are discussed below.
* the Code of Administrative
Procedure of the Republic of
Uzbekistan (“CAP”) 3
The above-mentioned Codes
entered into force on 1 April 2018.
After entry into force of the above-
mentioned Codes, the provisions
of the Code of Civil Procedure 4 and
the Code of Economic Procedure
of the Republic of Uzbekistan 5 that
had been in effect were repealed.
The adoption of the Codes
formalized the division of
competence among courts of
general jurisdiction and economic
and administrative courts, which
began to operate on 1 June 2017
as a result of consolidation of the
Supreme Economic Court and the
Supreme Court of the Republic of
Uzbekistan.
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world monitor
Examination of
economic disputes
with participation of
foreigners
Compared with the previous
Economic Procedure Code, the
CEP provides for much more
detailed regulation of matters
relating to economic disputes with
participation of foreign companies
and citizens.
According to Article 239 of
CEP, the following disputes are
additionally reserved for the
competence of economic courts of
the Republic of Uzbekistan:
* disputes arising in connection
with relations associated with the
circulation of securities issued in
the Republic of Uzbekistan
* disputes arising in connection
with the establishment of a fact
of legal significance, which, in the
applicant’s opinion, occurred in the
Republic of Uzbekistan
* disputes arising in connection
with the state registration of
names and other objects and
rendering services on the Internet,
the global information network, in
the Republic of Uzbekistan
* disputes arising in the economic
sphere with participation of
foreigners if contentious relations
are associated with the territory of
the Republic of Uzbekistan
As follows from this rule, the
competence of economic courts
in terms of disputes with
participation of foreigners is
rather broad, which might result
in referring to Uzbek courts of
disputes that have only an indirect
relation to the territory of the
Republic of Uzbekistan.
Also, Article 240 of the CEP
reserves the following categories
of disputes for the exclusive
competence of Uzbek courts:
* disputes with respect to property
owned by the Republic of Uzbekistan,
including disputes related to
denationalization and privatization
of state property and compulsory
alienation of property for state needs
* disputes whose subject-matter
is immovable property (provided