Appeal against blockade of social networks rejected

“My opinion” (“Mening fikrim”) portal considered the appeal to cancel the article that caused the blockade of Internet platforms and refused to place it for public voting. Reportedly, proposals to repeal the rules less than 1 year after their entry into force will not be accepted.

Placement of a collective appeal on the web portal to repeal Article 27-1 of the law “On personal data”, which has led to the blockade of social networks in Uzbekistan, has been rejected.

The moderator of the “My opinion” portal stated that the issue of a document, which is less than a year from the date of its adoption, cannot be the subject of the appeal to be posted on the portal.

According to paragraph 11 of the Regulation “On the procedure for submission and consideration of electronic collective appeals through the “My opinion” web portal”, an appropriate appeal, received by the web-portal, similar to the posted ones, or less than one year from the date of its adoption, on which the decision of the competent state body has already been made, cannot be the subject of an appeal posted on the “My opinion” web portal.

That is, in accordance with this rule, your proposal to repeal Article 27-1 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On personal data” (special conditions for processing personal data of citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan), stated in your application No. 746-sp/21, came into force on April 16, 2021. This issue will be considered on the “My opinion” web portal after one year from the date of its entry into force. In this regard, your application will not be posted on the “My opinion” web portal,” the moderator replied.

It should be recalled that in Uzbekistan, the law “On personal data” came into force on October 1, 2019. On the basis of the law adopted at the initiative of the State Center for Personalization under the Cabinet of Ministers on January 14, 2021, the controversial Article 27-1 was added to the document. This article, which requires bringing servers with personal data of Uzbek citizens from Internet platforms abroad, came into force on April 16, 2021.

In the appeal received by the portal for examination on November 4 this year, Article 27-1 of the law “On personal data” was requested to be repealed due to the fact that it was adopted without public discussion, its economic and political consequences were not calculated, and caused strong public outcry in recent days.