March 25, 2022

PINI – all you need to know

1. Regulatory and legal framework

2. What is PINI and how to get it

3. Explanation of the use of PINI in certain areas

3.1. PINI in the provision of public services

3.2. PINI in the tax accounting and pension savings system

3.3. PINI in other areas

4. Further reforms in the transition to PINI

 

Regulatory and legal framework

  1. Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. LRU-701 of 14.07.2021 “On licensing, licensing and notification procedures”
  2. Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. UP-6257 of 06.07.2021 “On measures to create an environment of intolerant attitude to corruption, radically reduce corruption factors in state and public administration, as well as broad public involvement in this process”
  3. Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. UP-5984 of 22.04.2020 “On measures to reform the procedure for permanent registration and registration at the place of stay”
  4. Appendix No. 2 to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. UP-2240 of 26.02.1999. Regulations on a residence permit in the Republic of Uzbekistan for a foreigner, a residence permit in the Republic of Uzbekistan for a stateless person and a certificate of a stateless person
  5. Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. PP-5102 of 04.05.2021 “On measures to further simplify the process of assigning state pensions and improving the system of delivering pensions and benefits to citizens”
  6. Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. PP-5102 of 04.05.2021 “On measures to further simplify the process of assigning state pensions and improving the system of delivering pensions and benefits to citizens”
  7. Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. PP-4797 of 04.08.2020 “On additional measures to automate the procedures for providing state social services and assistance to the population”
  8. Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. PP-4699 of 28.04.2020 “On measures for the widespread introduction of the digital economy and e-government”
  9. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 679 of 30.10.2020 “On measures for the further development of the identity identification system when providing electronic public services to the population”
  10. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 593 of 28.09.2020 “On measures to simplify the procedure for registration of foreign citizens and stateless persons in the Republic of Uzbekistan”
  11. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 539 of 04.09.2020 “On measures to further improve the mechanisms for collecting, processing and storing information about legal entities operating through a representative office, branch or permanent establishment, and individuals engaged in entrepreneurial activity”
  12. Appendix No. 1 to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 728 of 15.09.2017, the Regulation “On the Unified Portal of interactive public Services”.
  13. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 66 of 09.02.2017 “On measures to implement the Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. PP-2646 of October 28, 2016 “On improving the system of state registration and registration of business entities”
  14. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 200 of 31.05.1996 “On the procedure for determining the personal identification number of an individual in the Republic of Uzbekistan”
  15. Resolution of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan reg. MJ No. 27773-6 of 19.07.2021 “On amendments and additions to the Instructions on the procedure for filling in the cargo customs declaration”

What is PINI and how to get it

PINI is a personal identification number of an individual, which, according to the requirements of the ICAO international standard for machine-readable documents, is necessary for use in passports of citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan and in other documents.

The PINI is 14 decimal digits, which has a following structure:

  1. Gender index and century of birth (1-6);
  2. Date of birth (ddmmyy);
  3. Code of the district and the city (001-999);
  4. Serial number of the citizen (001-999);
  5. Check digit

To obtain a PINI, an individual (a foreign citizen or a stateless person) must apply to the migration and citizenship registration department of the internal Affairs bodies (MaCRD) at the place of temporary registration (assigned upon application) or permanent residence (assigned upon receipt of a residence permit). On obtaining PINI via PoA see below.

Citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan do not need to receive a PINI, since it is already available in a biometric passport.

Explanation of the use of PINI in certain areas

PINI becomes a single identifier that certifies the identity of a citizen when providing all public, banking, social and other services. State bodies, through interaction in a special platform “Electronic Government”, will exchange the necessary information on the basis of PINI, without requesting additional information from individuals.

Below we will look at how this plan began to be implemented and what problems arose in such a case.

PINI in the provision of public services

In Uzbekistan, there is an automated system of state registration of business entities (System), in other words, companies are registered/re-registered in this system. PINI in this system is indicated in the information about the founders, director, applicant or his representative.

Since July 1, 2021, the PINI has become a single identifier that certifies the identity of a citizen when providing public services. If earlier before this date, information about the PINI about the founder, director, applicant or his representative was optional information, now, if any information changes or new information is introduced in the information of any of the listed persons, the introduction of the PINI has become mandatory. This explanation is given by employees of the Centers for Public Services (CPS). At the moment, in appendices No. 5 and No. 9 to the Regulation on the procedure for state registration of Subjects, next to the information about PINI, there is a mark “if available”.

Unfortunately, when the PINI became mandatory in practice, the founders of foreign citizens and stateless persons who do not live in the Republic of Uzbekistan temporarily or permanently were not taken into account.

Yet currently, there is an option for foreigners to obtain a PINI via power of attorney (PoA) in CPS (this state service is exterritorial, i.e. PINI can be obtained in any branch of CPS). To do this, a foreign citizen issues PoA to obtain a PINI to a citizen of Uzbekistan; and also provides a scan of a passport (foreign) and a digital photo in a resolution of 297×382 pixels. Via this method, the PINI can be received within one day.

Nevertheless, access to electronic public services has not yet been established by issuing electronic keys to citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan residing abroad, foreign individuals and legal entities, as well as stateless persons from the diplomatic missions and consular offices of the Russian Federation.

PINI in the tax accounting and pension savings system

Starting from July 1, 2021, taxpayers are registered with the tax authorities (as well as in the pension savings system) using the personal identification number of an individual (PINI).

The purpose of this innovation, according to the explanations of the chief inspector of the State Tax Committee Shavkat Mamashokirov, was to simplify the accounting procedure in the tax authorities. That is, individuals no longer need to apply to the relevant state bodies to obtain a taxpayer identification number (TIN).

PINI was chosen for the reason that its assignment will occur at the time of the child’s birth and will not change throughout his life, and this ensures stability in identification issues. Such changes will not affect legal entities and they will be registered for tax according to the old order (TIN).

According to the responses of the State Tax Committee, foreign citizens who already had a TIN before July 1, 2021, must register as a taxpayer by receiving a PINI in the MaCRD. But the current TIN of citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan, foreign citizens and stateless persons with a residence permit (permanent residence permit), according to UP-6191 of 23.03.2021, should already have been linked to their PINI.

PINI in other areas

Since 2020, the PINI is the identifier of an individual in the “Unified Register of Social Protection” system, through which the procedure for assigning social allowance is carried out. The electronic contract registration system will also require a PINI if one of the parties is an individual.

Since July 1, 2021:

  • PINI is being implemented and operates in the information systems of mobile operators for new and existing subscribers who are individuals;
  • interdepartmental electronic interaction is established between the information systems of mobile operators and the interdepartmental integrated e-government platform to provide the subscriber’s phone number based on subscriber’s PINI and subscriber’s PINI based on the phone number.

Further reforms in the transition to PINI

By September 1, 2021, it is planned to ensure the creation of the possibility of using a database of biometric passports, including photos of individuals, in the identification system.

From October 2021, the PINI must also be indicated in the cargo customs declaration, if the shipper is an individual.

Until December 1, 2021, it is planned to link all personal bills for the use of utilities to PINI (for legal entities – to the TIN).

Cardinal reforms in the transition to the PINI are also planned in the field of pension assignment.