Uzbekistan introduces mandatory notification procedure for e-commerce operators starting or ending operations

21 August 2026

An order of the Director of the National Agency for Prospective Projects, registered with the Ministry of Justice on 19 August 2026 under registration number 3927, approves the Regulation on the Procedure for Notifying the Authorised Body of the Commencement and Termination of Activity by E-Commerce Operators. The regulation implements the notification-based regulatory model established under Uzbekistan's Law on Licensing, Permitting and Notification Procedures, applied specifically to e-commerce. It takes effect on 24 September 2026.

Who is covered

The regulation applies to e-commerce operators, defined broadly as legal entities providing the technical, organisational and information infrastructure for conducting e-commerce. Three categories fall within this definition:

• E-commerce platform operators (owning or managing an online trading platform)
• Order aggregator operators (owning or managing an order aggregation platform)
• Digital streaming service operators (owning or managing a digital streaming service)

Carrying out any of these activities without notifying the National Agency for Prospective Projects, the designated authorised body, is prohibited.

Conditions for operating under the notification procedure

To operate under this notification regime, an e-commerce operator must meet a defined set of conditions:

• State registration as a legal entity of the Republic of Uzbekistan
• Compliance with Uzbek legislation on e-commerce, personal data protection, copyright and related rights, consumer protection, and advertising
• Free provision of data on e-commerce subjects' activity upon request from the authorised body
• Compliance with retail trade rules in Uzbekistan
• An information system sufficiently functional to serve e-commerce participants
• Accuracy of the data submitted in the notification of commencement
• Mandatory registration of new, amended or terminated employment contracts, where applicable, in the Unified National Labour System
• Notification to the authorised body within ten working days of any change of name or registered address, or the opening of a branch or representative office
• Other requirements and conditions specific to the type of activity being notified

The first requirement is the structural starting point for any foreign company: only entities registered as legal entities of the Republic of Uzbekistan can operate under this notification procedure. A foreign company cannot notify or receive a confirmation certificate directly; it must first establish a local legal presence, typically a subsidiary or joint venture.

The notification process for starting operations

Operators submit their notification electronically through a dedicated information system, accessed via the OneID unified identification system, before commencing activity. Notifications may be submitted at any time, including weekends and holidays, and are considered received by the authorised body from the moment of electronic submission.

The notification must include:

• The legal entity's name, organisational-legal form and taxpayer identification number
• Registered address and email
• Phone number of the entity's head
• Address (addresses) and cadastral number where the e-commerce activity will be conducted
• Phone number at the place of activity, where available
• Bank details (account number and bank code)
• Passport or ID card details and personal identification number of the entity's head
• Supporting documents confirming compliance with the conditions above, submitted in PDF, PNG or JPEG format

The authorised body is prohibited from requesting any documents beyond this list. Submitted data is cross-checked the same day against inter-agency databases. A notification submitted in full compliance with requirements is accepted electronically the same day, and a confirmation certificate bearing a QR code is generated within one working day and sent automatically to the operator's personal account. The certificate is issued in the state language, with other language versions available at the operator's request where the system allows. Transferring the confirmation certificate to another legal entity for the purpose of conducting e-commerce activity is prohibited.

Grounds for rejecting a notification

A notification will not be accepted where:

• False or incorrect information is identified through the information system
• The requirements and conditions for operating under the notification procedure have not been met or confirmed
• The applicant is already registered in the notification registry and already conducting the relevant activity
• The applicant's activity has been suspended by the authorised body or a court
• The applicant is prohibited by court decision from conducting e-commerce operator activity

No grounds beyond this list may be used to reject a notification.

Terminating operations

An operator that voluntarily decides to cease activity submits a simplified termination notification through its personal account, without needing to submit additional data or documents. Activity is deemed terminated from the date specified in the notification, and the registry is updated accordingly.

Suspension of activity

The authorised body may suspend an operator's activity, for up to ten working days, on its own initiative where a breach of the operating conditions is identified, or automatically for the duration of related court proceedings. Where a violation is identified, an inspection report is prepared and the operator (or its representative) is given the opportunity to review and sign it; if the operator refuses to do so, this is recorded in the presence of independent witnesses. The report is sent electronically to the operator's personal account within one working day, at which point the operator is deemed to have been notified.

Within one working day of the report being issued, the authorised body must decide whether to require the operator to remedy the identified deficiencies and suspend activity for up to ten working days, a decision that must be approved by the authorised body's head. The operator then has until the deadline set in the decision to remedy the deficiencies and submit supporting documents. The authorised body reviews this response within five working days, may conduct an on-site inspection where necessary in coordination with the inspection-coordinating authority, and issues a further report confirming whether the deficiencies have been resolved. Within one working day of that report, the authorised body must decide either to restore the operator's activity or to refuse restoration; if no decision is issued within that working day, restoration is deemed automatic and the registry updates accordingly.

Court-ordered termination

The authorised body may apply to a court to terminate an operator's activity where:

• False or incorrect information in the original commencement notification is discovered
• Identified deficiencies are not remedied within the set deadline
• The operating conditions are breached systematically (twice or more within one year) or once, grossly, where the breach caused harm to public health or life, infringed the rights or legitimate interests of individuals or legal entities, worsened public safety, or caused environmental harm

The regulation specifies that failure to meet the state registration or information system requirements constitutes gross breach on a single occurrence, while breaches of the compliance, free-data-provision, retail rules, notification-accuracy, labour registration or change-notification conditions are treated as systematic only after two or more occurrences within a year.

Where grounds for court action exist, the authorised body prepares a report and sends it to the operator's personal account within one working day, then has five working days to file a claim with the court for termination of the operator's activity, sending the operator an electronic copy of the filed claim the same day. If the authorised body does not file within five working days, the operator's activity is deemed restored. Once a claim is filed, the operator's activity is suspended for the duration of proceedings. The authorised body may additionally request the court to prohibit the operator from conducting e-commerce activity for up to three months, depending on the social significance of the violation, with the exact duration determined by the court.

Ongoing monitoring

The authorised body monitors compliance through remote monitoring via the information system, on-site inspections where grounds exist and in coordination with the inspection-coordinating authority, and analysis of statistical and other data related to operators' activity. The authorised body is explicitly prohibited from checking or demanding compliance with any requirements beyond those set out in the regulation during monitoring or inspection activity.

Where remote monitoring identifies a violation, the authorised body issues a warning letter giving the operator at least ten working days to remedy it, during which time the operator's activity may not be suspended. Only if the deadline passes without resolution, and without the operator notifying the authorised body of remedial action, may an on-site inspection follow, based on risk analysis results or complaints from individuals, legal entities or public oversight bodies. Such inspections, once grounds are established and coordinated with the inspection-coordinating authority, are carried out within up to ten days.

The public registry

The authorised body maintains a public registry of notifications recording each operator's registration date and number, name, legal form, address, email, taxpayer identification number, phone number, place of activity, operating status (active, suspended, restored, terminated), grounds for suspension or termination, and any remaining period of prohibition on conducting activity. This registry is published on the authorised body's official website and open to public review. Data submitted by operators that does not appear in the public registry is kept confidential and not disclosed to third parties.

What this means for your business

This regulation formalises e-commerce as a notification-regulated activity in Uzbekistan, meaning platform operators, order aggregators and streaming services can no longer operate on an informal or unregistered basis once the regulation takes effect on 24 September 2026. For international companies operating or planning to operate e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, delivery aggregation services or streaming platforms in Uzbekistan, the starting point is structural rather than procedural: the notification regime is only open to entities registered as legal entities of the Republic of Uzbekistan. A foreign company cannot notify and receive a confirmation certificate directly; it must establish a local legal presence, typically a subsidiary or joint venture, before it can lawfully operate an e-commerce platform, order aggregator or streaming service in Uzbekistan. This makes local incorporation an upstream prerequisite that should be factored into market entry planning well before the notification stage.

Once locally incorporated, the notification process itself is designed to be fast and low-friction: submission is entirely electronic through OneID, processing is same-day, and the confirmation certificate is issued within one working day, with no discretion for the authorised body to request documents beyond the fixed list. This is a relatively investor-friendly design compared to a full licensing regime.

The more significant ongoing practical exposure lies in the compliance and enforcement architecture. Several of the ongoing conditions, particularly compliance with e-commerce, data protection, copyright, consumer protection and advertising legislation, and the free provision of operational data upon request, are open-ended and will be interpreted by the authorised body's monitoring practice over time. Companies should also note the asymmetry in how breaches are classified: failure to maintain proper legal registration or a functioning information system is treated as an automatic gross violation exposing the operator to court-ordered termination proceedings on a single occurrence, while most other conditions require repeated breaches within a year to reach that threshold.

Companies already operating or entering Uzbekistan's e-commerce space should build both local incorporation and the subsequent notification into their launch timeline now, given the requirement to notify before commencing activity, and should establish internal processes to track and promptly report any change of name, address, or opening of branches and representative offices within the ten-working-day deadline.