April 29, 2024

Сhanges are being made to the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan to bring its national legislation in line with the standards set by the World Trade Organization.

In accordance with the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. LRU-908 on Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan Providing for Bringing the National Legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan into Line with the Agreements of the World Trade Organization, dated February 15, 2024, changes are being made to the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan to bring its national legislation in line with the standards set by the World Trade Organization.

The following laws are affected by these changes:

The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Inventions, Utility Models, and Industrial Designs: Part 5 of Article 11 of the law was replaced with a new article, 11 (1). The latest article states “Insufficient use of an industrial property object within 3 years from the date of patent registration or 4 years from the filing date of a patent application (whichever period expires later) may result in insufficient supply of relevant goods, works, and services in the market. If the patent holder refuses to enter into a license agreement, any person who wishes to use the industrial property object can apply to a court for a compulsory simple (non-exclusive) license. This application must be submitted after two months have passed since the patent holder was notified of the proposal to enter into a license agreement.”

It is worth noting that the previous version of the law did not require a mandatory two-month waiting period after notification of the patent holder before an application for a license could be filed.

The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Goods:

In the second part of Article 24, the words “within 3 years” have been changed to “during the entire period of its validity”. This means that a trademark certificate can be invalidated entirely or partially during the entire duration of the trademark’s validity, and not just 3 years after the date of publishing information about its registration in an official bulletin by the Ministry of Justice.

The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Medicines and Pharmaceutical Activities:

Article 12 of the law was amended with parts 7, 8, and 9. According to part 7, confidential information about a medicinal product provided during the state registration of a medicine containing a new chemical cannot be disclosed or used for commercial purposes without the consent of the applicant for 6 years after the date of the state registration. Part 8 defines a new chemical as any chemical compound that has not been previously registered in the country, regardless of whether it is patentable. Based on part 9, disclosure and use of this information may be allowed without the applicant’s consent in the following cases:

  1. If there is an insufficient supply of the drug to meet the needs of the population within 12 months after registration in the country;
  2. Identification of cases of non-compliance with the requirements of competition law.

The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on State Duty has been amended to part 8 of Article 23. From now on, when performing actions related to the protection of inventions and utility models, such as filing an application, conducting an examination, registering, publishing, issuing patents, and maintaining patents in operation, the following benefits will be provided:

  • For persons with disabilities in group II, the fee will be reduced by 90%.
  • Students, scientific and scientific-pedagogical staff will receive a 30% discount.
  • Small business entities that are legal entities, educational organizations that have passed state accreditation, and scientific organizations will receive a 25% reduction.

Additionally, there has been a change regarding the amount of state fees for state registration or re-registration of enterprises with foreign investment in public service centers. The amount has been reduced to 1 size of the basic calculated value, which is currently 340,000 sums (roughly 26 USD), as of the date of this publication. Previously, the required amount was 10 times the basic rate (BCV).

The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Advertising:

In Article 39, “Advertising of beer, natural and sparkling wine”, the decision was made to remove the requirement that the product be “produced in the Republic of Uzbekistan”. This allows for the advertisement of beer and wine products from foreign producers to be advertised on an equal basis with products from national producers.

Additionally, in Article 8, the name of the authority responsible for regulating advertising activity has been changed. The new authority is the Committee for Development of Competition and Protection of Consumers of the Republic of Uzbekistan, replacing the previously existing Agency for Consumer Protection within the Antimonopoly Committee.

These changes became effective on February 15, 2024.