Outdated State Standards Prevent Uzbekistan from Joining the WTO

The lower chamber has sent a request to Ansabkhon Zakirov, Director of "Uzstandard," regarding technical regulation reform, digitalization, corruption risks, and the updating of standards.

The request was initiated by the faction of the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan and the Committee on Entrepreneurship, Competition Development, and Industry. Zakirov is required to provide reasoned explanations on four main issues, though their list was not announced during the session.

Deputy Nodira Jonibekova stated that inspections revealed problems with identifying and reducing corruption risks in the field of technical regulation. According to her, it is also necessary to accelerate the implementation of digital solutions, reduce excessive bureaucracy, and prevent conflicts of interest.

The state of the regulatory framework was discussed separately. Uzbekistan has around 33,000 standards in effect, and approximately half of them are outdated or do not meet international requirements. Jonibekova called this an obstacle to the country's accession to the World Trade Organization, as compliance of the technical regulation system with international standards is a condition of membership.

The press service of the lower chamber clarified that parliament requested information on the current state of the industry, measures to prevent corruption, digitalization and updating of standards, as well as other relevant issues.