Court decisions in Uzbekistan to be placed on the Internet

On February 6, 2019, the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis held its regular session. During the meeting, a number of draft laws aimed at legal support of reforms in various spheres of the country's life were considered.
 
According to the press service of the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, at the beginning of the meeting, deputies approved amendments and additions to the Economic Procedural Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan the draft law “On Legal Protection of Competition” in connection with the adoption of additional measures to improve the rating of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the annual report “Doing Business” of the World Bank and International Finance Corporation.
 
In accordance with this project developed to ensure the implementation of the presidential resolution of 13 July 2018, in order to ensure transparency in the economic court hearings, the Economic Procedural Code is introduced norms, related with the need to be published on the official website of the Supreme Court, on court decisions (with except for decisions made in closed court hearings) agreed by the parties. 
 
It was emphasized that transparency in court hearings today is provided through videoconferencing, online broadcasting and audio or video recording. The next step in ensuring the transparency and openness of trials is the publication of court decisions on the Internet, including the official website of the Supreme Court.
 
The draft law also envisages that the Economic Procedural Code should be introduced norms of simplified dispute resolution of smaller amounts by economic courts. According to it, when a taxpayer claims to pay tax arrears by his property, and if the sum of the claim is not more than 20 times the minimum monthly wage for legal entities and in the amount of not exceeding 5 times the MMW for individual entrepreneurs, the lawsuit should be resolved by a simplified procedure. 
 
The Committee for Legislation and Judicial Issues changed the proposed name of the project during its preparation for the second reading. In addition, 4 new norms were introduced and 3 norms were excluded. In the course of discussions, almost all norms of the project were amended. 
 
According to deputies, such innovations in the legislation allow to establish simplified procedures for judicial proceedings, review cases quickly and monitor final decisions on certain types of disputes. More importantly, it will help to improve Uzbekistan's performance in the annual report “Doing Business” of the World Bank and International Finance Corporation.