Uzbekistan’s outdated standards put WTO accession efforts at risk, MPs say

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Nearly half of Uzbekistan’s more than 33,000 existing standards are outdated or fail to meet international requirements, creating serious obstacles to the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), lawmakers have said. The Legislative Chamber has approved a parliamentary inquiry to the head of the Agency for Technical Regulation.

Photo: Kun.uz

Uzbekistan’s outdated standards put WTO accession efforts at risk, MPs say — Photo: Kun.uz

The decision to send the inquiry to Ansabkhon Zokirov, director of the Agency for Technical Regulation under the Cabinet of Ministers, was adopted at a parliamentary session on November 10.

Presenting the inquiry, MP Nodira Janibekova said that despite reforms in technical regulation, standardization, metrology and conformity assessment, a number of unresolved problems remained in the sector.

These include outdated standards, insufficient digitization of procedures and corruption risks.

“Reviews and analyses have identified a number of issues in the sector that require solutions and greater attention. In particular, efforts to identify and eliminate corruption risks have not been fully organized,” Janibekova said.

She also stressed the need to accelerate the digitization of technical regulation processes.

Nearly half of existing standards fail to meet modern requirements

Janibekova drew particular attention to the state of the country’s regulatory framework.

“The existing standards database is outdated. Nearly 50% of the more than 33,000 standards currently in force are outdated or do not meet international requirements,” she said.

She linked the problem directly to Uzbekistan’s efforts to join the WTO, noting that alignment with international requirements in technical regulation was one of the key conditions for membership.

“This situation is becoming a serious obstacle to the process of accession to the World Trade Organization,” the MP said.

The parliamentary inquiry covers the effectiveness of public administration in technical regulation, digitization, transparency and efforts to establish a corruption-free system.

According to Janibekova, the agency’s director has been asked to provide detailed explanations on four main areas. The specific questions, however, were not read out during the session.

Following her presentation, lawmakers voted in favor of sending the parliamentary inquiry to the agency’s director.

Under Article 32 of the Law on the Regulations of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis, officials of state bodies must provide written responses to parliamentary inquiries within 10 days of receiving them, unless a different deadline has been established.