Law Amendments in Uzbekistan and Interesting Laws in the World

Law is the set of regulations and rules made by the authority to govern the behaviour of people and activity of bodies, organizations and enterprises we must obey and follow.  In other words, law means what we can do or can’t, what is allowed and prohibited. Can you imagine a country without law and rules?!  Not of course. Law means peace, development, progress and safety.

Let us first speak about unusual laws existed and even existing at present to amuse and surprise you and  to get you ready to read serious law amendments in the fraternal country, Uzbekistan.

In Milan it has been illegal not to smile since XIX century.

In 1336 Edward III of England passed a law to stop people eating too much and becoming fat.

There is anti-kite legislation in Australia, as it is illegal to fly a kite in public and people breaking this rule pay $517 US fine.

According to a law in Scotland, you must allow someone into your house if he knocks on your door and needs to use the bathroom.

Flushing a toilet after 10 p.m. in apartment buildings is violation of law in Switzerland.

It is illegal to chew gum in Singapore, so gum is neither bought nor sold there to keep public places clean.

Did you know that in Samoa (a group of Polynesian islands in the south-central Pacific Ocean), it is a crime to forget your wife’s Birthday!!!

It is illegal for a fireman to rescue a woman wearing only a nightgown in St. Louis, Missouri (the USA). She must be clothed before to be rescued.  But will she be able to do it?

A betrayed wife in Hong Kong is legally allowed to kill her adulterous husband, but she may do it with bare hands.

Now let us return to our geography and speak about latest amendments of one of our fraternal countries, Uzbekistan having a lot in common with us. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the President of the Uzbekistan Republic issued Decree on a number of fields of the country. The amendments in the legislation came to force on October 1, 2021.

The Decree covered a lot of fields: economy, tax, education, customs and construction:

• reduction of income tax rate of cement producers from 20 % to 15%;
• permission to tint the car windows will be issued only by a Unified Portal of Interactive Public Services;
• issuing a special distinctive registration number plates to electric vehicles;
• creation of centres of legal services in all districts of the Republic under the Ministry of Justice of the Uzbekistan Republic;
• for reliable protection of participants funds based on the electronic online auctions are collected into a special account of the State Unitary Enterprise “Centre for Electronic Online auction”  are transferred to the customer’s account  only after confirmation of the object;
• graduates from top 500 foreign universities working at governmental bodies will be paid additional bonus;
• creation of customs posts for “remote electronic declaration” for registration of online customs declarations of the participants’ foreign economic activity;
• a monthly bonus of 40% of wages will be paid to the employees working with x-rays for harmful working condition  funded by state budget;
• provision of investment projects worth more than 200 billion soums at the expense of state budget ;
• managing the leased apartment building by the developer the first two years;
• decrease of contribution to the Fund for the Development of the Judicial System from 40% to 5%;
• the time and the place of court sessions will be informed by free SMS services;
• training courses will be conducted on combating torture for preliminary investigators, pre-trial investigators for the law enforcement officials;
• The Accounts Chamber, the Ministry of Finance and the Internal Audit Service will publish reports at least once a quarter on their activity with media coverage;
• Internal anti-corruption bodies are to be established in all state organizations, under the Council of Ministers of the Republic including in Karakalpakstan, khokimiyats and Tashkent.

The Presidential Decree abolishes the following clauses in the law:

• obligation of individual entrepreneurs who are income tax payers with a fixed number of individuals on submission of tax returns to the tax authorities;
• prohibition of sale and retail sale of some ready-made imported goods upon the expiration of 12 months from the date of customs declaration registration;
• a number of control functions of state administration and local public administration bodies;

So, a lot of useful amendments have been made in the Uzbekistan legislation and more will be made, as law and regulations change when society changes.

Of course, we can not state law and regulations to be perfect. There are gaps in all laws and regulations. But they are much better than they were yesterday and there will be more amendments and improvement tomorrow to fill gaps. So everything we need law without gaps not to let misusing it by some people   “If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable”, as Louis D.Brandeis, an American lawyer and associate justice of the US Supreme Court said.

We do not only need to follow the law, we must respect and protect it making the law respect and protect us. Theodore Roosevelt, the late British Prime Minister said: “Obedience of the law demanded, not asked as a favour”.

Frank Abagnale, an American author said:” The law sometimes sleeps, but it never dies”. Sometimes we try to prove the clauses of the law with difficulty, but in the end we win, if we are right. So, do not be discouraged, the law always helps us.