Center for State Ecological Expertise

I. The Law Introduces Amendments and Additions to 3 Codes and 5 Laws, Including:

1) The Law provides for the establishment of an Electronic Register of Persons Convicted of Corruption Offenses.

Persons included in the Register will be subject to several restrictions. In particular, they will be prohibited from:

• entering the civil service;
• running for elected public office;
• participating in public procurement.

2) The Criminal Code introduces a legal definition of "corruption offenses," identifying 18 specific corruption-related crimes.

3) The Law establishes the legal framework for a new institution vested with certain law enforcement functions — Compliance and Internal Anti-Corruption Control Units.

The Law defines their powers, rights, and responsibilities, including:

• unrestricted access to the facilities of the relevant organizations;
• unrestricted access to necessary information and materials;
• submitting recommendations based on identified corruption cases;
• conducting inspections and control measures independently or through specially established working groups;
• carrying out direct or indirect observation and documentation of individuals, events, and processes to identify corruption risks;
• cooperating with authorities responsible for operational-search activities, pre-investigation inquiries, and preliminary investigations;
• establishing confidential cooperation with citizens;
• referring materials on detected violations to the competent authorities.

4) The Law introduces practical anti-corruption mechanisms applicable at all levels—from everyday corruption to offenses committed by high-ranking public officials.

Where indications of corruption are identified with respect to the head of a state body, or where sufficient grounds exist to believe that the head is leading an organized criminal group, the Deputy Head responsible for compliance, with the approval of the superior compliance service, is authorized to:

• directly submit relevant documents and materials to law enforcement agencies;
• propose the temporary suspension of the official's authority to make personnel and financial decisions or recommend temporary removal from office.

5) To ensure the independence and effectiveness of compliance units, the Law establishes additional legal safeguards for compliance officers.

In particular:

• criminal proceedings against a compliance officer may be initiated only by the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Uzbekistan;
• entry into the officer's residence, office, or vehicle, as well as inspections, searches, seizures, interception of telephone communications, personal searches, and seizure of correspondence or documents, may only be conducted with the written authorization of the Prosecutor General;
• questioning a compliance officer, or a former compliance officer within two years after leaving office, as a witness or suspect, as well as detention or pre-trial custody, may only take place in accordance with the law and with notification of the Prosecutor General;
• compliance officers are guaranteed legal and social protection in accordance with the legislation.

6) The Law requires the establishment of Compliance Units in all state bodies, including agencies directly responsible for combating corruption.

7) The activities of all compliance units will be coordinated by the Compliance Service of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Accordingly, anti-corruption efforts will no longer be fragmented but will operate within a single centralized system.

8) For five categories of corruption offenses, the following forms of sentence mitigation will not apply:

• parole (early conditional release);
• replacement of the unserved portion of a sentence with a more lenient punishment.

These restrictions apply to persons:

• convicted of embezzlement, misappropriation, or fraud where the damage has not been fully compensated;
• repeatedly convicted, convicted as dangerous repeat offenders, or convicted for especially large-scale bribery offenses, including accepting a bribe, giving a bribe, or acting as an intermediary in bribery.

9) The Anti-Corruption Agency is entrusted with developing a Corruption Risk Map for every state body, organization, region, and sector.

The map will include:

• statistics on corruption offenses;
• analysis of law enforcement practices;
• public perception indicators;
• assessment of the effectiveness of state anti-corruption policies;
• and other relevant performance indicators.

10) The Law "On Combating Corruption" defines the legal status and powers of the National Anti-Corruption Council and the Territorial Anti-Corruption Councils, while assigning eight additional responsibilities to the Anti-Corruption Agency.

These include:

• conducting a systematic analysis of the state of corruption in the country;
• developing and implementing social partnership programs aimed at fostering a culture of zero tolerance toward corruption;
• and performing other functions provided for by the legislation.