5. Appendix to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 469 dated 09.10.1997 “Regulations on Legal Expertise and State Registration of Normative Legal Acts Adopted by Ministries, State Committees and Departments”.

The concept of “source of law” is multifaceted, encompassing the source of law in material form, implying the material conditions of society and the system of economic relations; the source of law in the ideal sense – the very legal consciousness of the individual, society and the state; as well as a source of law in the legal sense, the formal expression of a right outwardly and its legal consolidation. In this article, the main focus will be on a narrow interpretation of the concept of “source of law”, par excellence, we will consider ways of consolidation and existence of the norms of law in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

2. Types of sources of law in Uzbekistan

In general, there are the following sources of law:

Legal custom;
Legal precedent;
Legal doctrine;
Regulatory legal act;
General principles of law;
Normative contract (International law).

In Uzbekistan, however, there are no such sources of law as legal precedent and legal doctrine. Namely, a citizen or a legal entity will not be able to defend their interests based on a previous court decision on a similar issue, or based on the work (for example, an article) of a qualified expert in the field of law.

2.1. Regulatory legal acts

The main source of law in Uzbekistan is a normative legal act. According to the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan of 14.12.2000 No. 160-II “On Normative Legal Acts”, a normative legal act (hereinafter referred to as the “NLA“) is an official document adopted in accordance with this law and aimed at establishing, changing or canceling legal norms as generally binding state regulations.

The following bodies have the right to adopt the NLA:

Chambers of the Oliy Majlis;
President;
Cabinet of Ministers;
Ministries;
State committees and departments;
Public authorities in the field;

2.1.1. Types of the NLA and their hierarchy

Types of the NLA are:

Constitution;
Laws;
Resolutions of the Chambers of the Oliy Majlis;
Decrees and Resolutions of the President;
Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers;
Orders and Resolutions of ministries, State committees and departments;
The decisions of public authorities in the field.

In turn, the Constitution and laws, as well as Resolutions of the Oliy Majlis occupy the top of the hierarchy and are legislative acts, while Decrees and Resolutions of the President, Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers, Orders and Resolutions of ministries, state committees and departments, Decisions of local state authorities are subordinate acts. Among themselves, these types of the NLA are subordinated in the following hierarchy:

Constitution;
Laws;
Resolutions of the Chambers of the Oliy Majlis;
Decrees and Resolutions of the President;
Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers;
Orders and Resolutions of ministries, State committees and departments;
Decisions of local state authorities.

Also, the sources of law in Uzbekistan are the components of the NLA, such as rules, instructions and other documents that they approve.

2.1.2. The correlation of the NLA

The NLA must comply with the norms of the NLA above it, and in case of discrepancies, the norms of the higher NLA will be taken into account. In case of discrepancies between the NLA having equal legal force, the provisions of the NLA adopted later shall be applied. However, there is an exception to this rule, namely, in the case of the NLA adopted by a ministry, state committee or department; the NLA will have higher force if the body that adopted such an act is specifically authorized to regulate a certain area.

2.1.3. Basic requirements for the NLA

The text of the NLA should be concise, simple and clear. The concepts and terms used shall be applied uniformly with their meaning accepted in the legislation. It is not allowed to use outdated and ambiguous words and expressions, figurative comparisons, epithets, and metaphors in the NLA. If the NLA establishes the obligation of state bodies and other organizations, as well as officials and citizens, then the NLA should also provide for a measure of responsibility for its violation, if such responsibility is not provided for by law or should not be established in the separate NLA.

The NLA may have a preamble that explains the purpose and motive for the adoption of the relevant act. However, legal norms cannot be included in the preamble.

As a rule, the NLA does not reflect legal norms that are already contained in the NLA of the same legal force.

2.1.4. Publication details of the NLA

Type and name of the act;
Place, date of adoption, reference number of the act (where it should be);
Position, signature, capital letter of the name and surname of the person officially authorized to certify the text of the relevant NLA.

2.1.5. Certification and registration of the NLA

The identity of the official texts of the NLA are made by signature in the case of the laws, Decrees and Resolutions of the President – of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan; in the case of the Resolution of the Legislative chamber of Oliy Majlis – of the Legislative chamber of the Oliy Majlis; in the case of the Resolution of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis – of the President of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis; in the case of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of – of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan; in the case of Orders and Regulations of ministries, state committees and departments – of the head of the body that adopted the act; in the case of Decisions of state authorities on places – of the relevant khokim.

The NLA of ministries, state committees and departments within 10 days from the date of adoption of the NLA must be submitted to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan for state registration. It is important to keep in mind that the following acts are not subject to state registration:

technical regulations;
normative documents in the field of standardization;
sanitary, veterinary, veterinary-sanitary, sanitary rules and regulations;
urban planning rules and regulations;
environmental regulations and regulations;
other documents in the field of technical regulation.

The Ministry of Justice conducts a legal examination of the NLA within 30 days from the date of its receipt, this period can also be extended to 20 days. In case of state registration of normative legal acts a separate registration number is assigned to it, which is set out in the act as follows:

“…was MJ from (date) number (a unique number in the state register)” (Annex to RCM of RUz dated 09.10.1997 No. 469).

2.1.6. The publication of the NLA

A mandatory requirement for any NLA is its publication in official publications. If the NLA is not published, no one can be convicted, punished, deprived of property or any rights on the basis of such an NLA. Publication of the NPA in outlining is not allowed. When publishing the NLA, all its details must be specified.

In turn, the official sources of publication, depending on the type of the NLA, are:

For the Constitution, Laws, Resolutions of chambers of Oliy Majlis, Decrees and Orders of the President, “Bulletin of chambers of Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan”, “meeting of the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, Newspapers “Khalq Suzi” and “Narodnoe Slovo”, the National database of legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
For resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers – “Collection of resolutions of the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, “Collection of Legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, newspapers” “Khalq Suzi” and “Narodnoe slovo”, National Database of Legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
For NPA of ministries, state committees and departments – “Collection of Legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, the National Database of Legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as official publications of ministries, state committees and departments.
For decisions of local government bodies – the National Database of legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as official publications of these bodies.

The NLA comes into force from the date of their official publication, unless a later date is specified in the NLA itself.

2.1.7. The reverse force of the NLA and its effect in time, space and among persons

As a general rule, NLAs do not have retroactive effect, that is, they do not apply to public relations that arose before they were put into effect. However, when expressly provided for by law, they apply to such relationships. However, there is an exception here: there will be no retroactive effect if it is envisaged to introduce or tighten the liability of legal entities and individuals for actions that at the time of their commission did not entail such liability or entailed lesser liability, or such introduction or tightening causes material damage to legal entities and individuals.

The body that accepts the NLA determines its action in space, that is, its action on the subject composition of the state. In addition, the NLA is valid indefinitely, unless otherwise specified in its text. In addition, unless otherwise stipulated by an international Treaty, the effect of the NLA applies on:

Citizens;
Legal entities;
Foreign legal entities operating in the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan;
Foreign citizens and stateless persons residing in the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

2.2. Regulatory Agreement: international treaties and agreements

International agreements are also one of the sources of law in Uzbekistan. Implementation of norms of international agreements and treaties can be accomplished in two ways: through the adoption of local normative legal acts incorporating the provisions of international treaties, as well as by direct tacit recognition of the existence of international treaties and agreements. Legislation always emphasizes the prevailing force of international agreements, namely their priority over other norms of law.

2.3. Legal custom

It is important to note another source of law in Uzbekistan, namely legal custom, which is reflected in local customs and traditions, as well as in business practices. In the Civil Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, there is a direct reference to this type of source of law, as filling in relations that are not regulated by either the NLA or the contract. It is important to note that business practices are a source of law only within the framework of business relations.

According to the first part of Article 6 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the business practice is a rule of conduct that is not provided for by the NLA, and is stable and generally recognized in a certain area of business activity. In addition, it is important to keep in mind that business practices always take a subordinate role, namely, they stand after the NLA, as well as after the contract. In other words, the parties may voluntarily write a different provision from the business practices.

2.4. General principles of law

The general principles of law in Uzbekistan are also a source of law. Their reflection can be found in a variety of the NLA. In addition, the Civil Code expressly provides that in case of impossibility of use of analogy of legislation, rights and obligations of the parties are determined proceeding from the General beginnings and sense of the legislation (analogy of law) and requirements of good faith, reasonableness and fairness (Article 5 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan).

2.5. Features: legal information as a source of law

According to the Law of 07.09.2017 No. ZRU-443, legal information is < < texts of normative legal acts, official interpretations to them, explanations on the procedure for applying normative legal acts, decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan, decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the application of legislation, as well as materials summarizing judicial practice>>. Thus, in addition to the NLA, legal information includes:

Official interpretations of the NLA
Explanations on the procedure for applying the NLA
Decisions of the Constitutional Court
Decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court on the application of legislation
Materials of summarizing of judicial practice

Thus, all the above-mentioned acts are also sources of law in Uzbekistan, since it is through them that the law and the goals of the legislator are interpreted and explained when adopting a certain NLA.

The main principles of legal information are transparency, openness, timeliness of its dissemination and access to it, freedom of search and freedom of its receipt.

3. Conditional hierarchy

Thus, we can deduce a conditional hierarchy of sources of law in Uzbekistan:

International treaties and agreements
Legal acts and legal information
Legal custom
General principles of law

Sources of law in Uzbekistan

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