Uzbekistan enacts Constitutional Law establishing the International Digital Technologies Center

20 August 2026

On 19 August 2026, President Mirziyoyev signed the Constitutional Law on the International Digital Technologies Center, establishing a special legal regime territory dedicated to digital technology development, testing and commercialisation. The law closely mirrors the structure of the Constitutional Law on the Tashkent International Financial Centre enacted in July 2026, applying a similar model of English common law application, an independent commercial court, and long-term tax exemptions to a new sector: digital technologies, artificial intelligence and innovation. The law enters into force six months after official publication.

What the Center is and its founding principles

The Center is defined as a designated territory with a special legal regime, with initial boundaries set by Presidential Decree. The special regime covers:

• Regulatory sandbox activities
• Entrepreneurial activity aimed at attracting investment and promoting exports in digital technologies
• Civil, corporate and commercial law relations
• Procedural matters
• Customs and taxation
• Labour relations
• Finance and banking
• Personal data protection
• Provision of state services
• Intellectual property protection

The Center's founding principles are openness and transparency, equal competitive environment, integrity, innovation, flexibility, efficiency and effectiveness, environmental safety, protection against deterioration of conditions, and independence. The special legal regime is guaranteed until 2100 and cannot be revoked or worsened before its term expires.

Applicable law

The Center operates under a defined hierarchy of legal sources, closely matching the TIFC model: the Constitution of Uzbekistan and this Constitutional Law take precedence, followed by presidential decrees and resolutions on the Center's establishment and governance, then the Center's own binding decisions, then, where not inconsistent with the above, English and Welsh common law and principles of equity, and finally Uzbek legislation for matters not regulated by the Center's own instruments.

Certain areas of national law remain applicable regardless of the special regime: criminal and criminal procedure legislation, administrative liability legislation, and legislation on national security, defence, anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, counter-proliferation financing, immigration control, family matters, environmental protection, emergencies, sanitary-epidemiological welfare and public health. Where the Tashkent International Financial Centre's participants provide banking and financial services within the Digital Technologies Center's territory, the TIFC's own Constitutional Law and its applicable law provisions govern their activities.

Governance structure

The Center is governed by two bodies. The Governing Council is the supreme collegial body determining strategic direction, chaired by the President of Uzbekistan by virtue of office. The Council:

• Sets priority directions and approves target development indicators
• Makes decisions on institutional development, including investor protection and regulatory improvement
• Guarantees long-term legal protection for investors and inviolability of private property and investments

The Center's Administration is the executive body ensuring day-to-day operation, organised in the form of a joint-stock company and serving as the working body of the Governing Council. It is financed through shareholder contributions, fees and payments from Center participants, and other lawful sources.

Center decisions are published officially in English and take legal effect only from the date of official publication; unpublished decisions have no legal force. Where a Center decision conflicts with a document in another language, the English text prevails for interpretation purposes.

The Regulatory Sandbox

A defining feature of the Center is its "Regulatory Sandbox", an experimental legal environment for creating, testing and implementing innovative technologies, products and services. The Governing Council sets the criteria for selecting projects and participants, the scope of temporary relief or simplification, monitoring and effectiveness assessment, and the special testing procedures for requirements under the Constitutional Law.

The sandbox is introduced by the Administration for periods of up to twelve months unless the Governing Council sets a different duration, and may include dedicated regulatory zones, testing sites or laboratories. Available relief includes:

• Temporary exemption from specific legislative or Center regulatory requirements
• Temporary exemption from licensing and permitting procedures
• Access to Center infrastructure, including research laboratories and expert consultations
• The ability to engage with real consumers and partners within a controlled market

Use of a technology, product or service under sandbox testing does not itself create liability for participants, except for harm to human life or health. Following a successful test, the Governing Council may authorise full implementation of the project within the Center under defined conditions, or propose its rollout across Uzbekistan to the relevant national authorities.

Participants: residents, investors and accredited partners

Legal entities may operate in the Center as residents, either incorporated under Center law, incorporated outside the Center's jurisdiction, or as branches or representative offices of foreign legal entities, and other forms permitted by Center decisions.

Investors are categorised into four types:

• Institutional investors: investment funds, venture funds, financial institutions
• Startup investors: making direct investments into startup projects within the Center, not requiring separate registration
• Resident-investors: Center residents that also invest in startups
• Infrastructure investors: investing in construction, research centres, data centres, production facilities and other infrastructure

Infrastructure investors do not benefit from the special legal regime generally but are fully exempt from taxes on income from the sale or lease of completed infrastructure project facilities.

Accredited partners are legal or natural persons providing consulting and other services to Center participants; they do not benefit from the Center's special tax and customs regime.

Tax regime

Center organs, participants and their employees are exempt from all taxes and levies established under Uzbek tax legislation on income earned within the special legal regime, subject to the specific provisions below:

• VAT: charged at a zero rate on turnover for goods and services supplied within the Center's territory and outside Uzbekistan; supplies where the place of sale is Uzbekistan, and imports into Uzbekistan, are taxed at rates set by Center decisions
• Corporate profit tax: exemption applies to income earned within priority activity areas approved by the Governing Council; income from Uzbek sources is nonetheless subject to profit tax under Center decisions
• Personal income tax: highly qualified foreign employees are exempt on Center-paid wages and dividends; other foreign employees are taxed at 12% on Center-paid wages; Uzbek citizens and stateless persons employed by Center participants are taxed at 7.5%
• Investor income: individuals and legal entities are exempt from personal income tax and corporate profit tax respectively on dividends and other income from investment activity carried out within the special legal regime

Customs regime

Center organs and participants are exempt from VAT and customs duty on the import of equipment and components, software, materials and samples needed for developing and manufacturing digital technology products, for use within the Regulatory Sandbox, and for supporting the Center's operations. Investors are similarly exempt on equipment, software, materials and samples imported as investment. No customs duties apply to goods or services exported from the Center's territory by its subjects.

Temporary import of goods is duty-free (excluding customs fees), with import periods of:

• Up to twelve months for Sandbox goods
• The duration of the investment period for investment project goods
• Up to five years in other cases

Simplified customs clearance procedures apply, including electronic declaration through the Center's digital platform and a two-working-day review deadline for declarations.

Personal data and cloud technologies

The Center establishes special rules for personal data processing and protection aligned with international standards and set out in Center decisions. Storage and processing of data using cloud technologies is permitted within the special legal regime, subject to requirements on data security, integrity, protection, reliability and international standard compliance.

Freedom of artificial intelligence research and development

Article 74 guarantees freedom to conduct activities and research in creating, testing and implementing artificial intelligence technologies within the Center. No norms, restrictions or other measures may directly or indirectly impede this freedom, except where necessary to protect the rights and legitimate interests of individuals and legal entities, prevent threats to public safety and order, or ensure compliance with Uzbekistan's international obligations.

International scientific and technological cooperation in AI, including participation by foreign individuals, legal entities, scientific organisations, educational institutions and technology companies, is explicitly guaranteed, with legal protection of resulting joint research and development outcomes.

Foreign education regime

The Center establishes a special legal regime for education aimed at creating a high-technology educational and cultural environment. Educational activity may be conducted according to the curricula and standards of leading foreign educational organisations without mandatory alignment to Uzbek state education standards; content, curriculum requirements and assessment methods are determined independently by Center bodies and take precedence without requiring approval from Uzbek education authorities.

New educational organisations, including branches of foreign universities, schools, and preschool institutions, are established under specialised licences issued by the Center's Administration in coordination with the Governing Council. Licensing criteria must include safeguards excluding content that:

• Undermines state sovereignty, territorial integrity or security
• Promotes war, or social, national, racial or religious hatred
• Infringes constitutional rights and freedoms, public health or morality

Where infrastructure for an educational institution is unavailable within the Center's own territory, such institutions may be established outside the Center, with that territory recognised as a Center production zone and the full special legal regime applied to it.

Employment framework

Labour relations within the Center are governed by the Center's own decisions rather than standard Uzbek labour legislation, unless Center decisions provide otherwise. Center decisions on labour matters must prioritise:

• Safe working conditions and equal opportunity
• Non-discrimination
• Protection of employee rights and fair remuneration
• Flexibility in work organisation
• Freedom from excessive regulation

Forced labour, child labour and all forms of exploitation and human trafficking are strictly prohibited. Organisations and investors may establish more favourable terms for employees than the Center's minimum standards. Employers may set flexible working arrangements including remote work, alternative pay systems including hourly, piece-rate and bonus-based structures, provided non-discrimination and safety requirements are met.

Foreign employees working in the Center are exempt from the standard Uzbek work permit requirement and from general labour migration quotas and restrictions. Visas for foreign employees and their family members may be issued for up to three years, arranged through Uzbek consular institutions, international airports or, once already in Uzbekistan, through internal affairs bodies, based on the Center Administration's submission.

Dispute resolution: the Tashkent International Commercial Court

Disputes arising within the Center's special legal regime are heard by the Tashkent International Commercial Court, established under the Tashkent International Financial Centre's Constitutional Law. The Court's jurisdiction over the Digital Technologies Center covers:

• Civil, economic, corporate and labour disputes between Center subjects
• Disputes connected to activity, legal relationships or property within the Center
• Insolvency, bankruptcy, reorganisation and restructuring matters involving Center participants
• Disputes the parties agree to submit to the Court
• International arbitration-related matters
• Disputes arising from Center decisions, actions or inaction, including licensing, registration, supervision and disciplinary matters
• Other matters assigned to the Court by law

Administrative and criminal liability: a Center-first approach

Where actions by Center subjects that would ordinarily trigger administrative or criminal liability under Uzbek law, for currency, customs, tax, competition or trade and service rule violations, are, in substance, commercial, economic or civil-law disputes, or breaches of Center administrative requirements capable of resolution within the Center's own framework, the Center's Administration applies its own economic, civil, regulatory and administrative measures first rather than referring the matter to national prosecuting authorities. This does not limit national law enforcement jurisdiction over conduct that genuinely constitutes a crime and cannot be adequately addressed through Center-level measures; in such cases the Center cooperates fully with the relevant authorities.

Sanctions available to the Center's Administration

For breaches of Digital Technologies Center legislation, the Administration may apply:

• Written warnings
• Binding instructions to act or refrain from acting
• Obligations to remedy violations or compensate harm
• Disgorgement of unlawfully obtained profit
• Financial sanctions
• Temporary restriction of specific activities or operations
• Urgent protective measures
• Suspension or revocation of special regime privileges
• Suspension or termination of resident status

Measures must be proportionate to the nature and consequences of the violation.

Implementation timeline

Center decisions required under the Constitutional Law must be developed and adopted within six months of the law's entry into force, which is itself six months after official publication, giving an effective eighteen-month runway before the full regulatory architecture must be in place. Until Center decisions are adopted, Uzbek legislation not conflicting with the Constitutional Law may apply within the territory. The Cabinet of Ministers is tasked with aligning government resolutions and instructing republican executive bodies to revise conflicting regulations. Implementation and effectiveness of the special legal regime are monitored at least annually by the Governing Council and continuously by the Administration's Supervisory Board.

What this means for your business

The International Digital Technologies Center extends the special-jurisdiction model piloted with the Tashkent International Financial Centre to the technology and innovation sector, creating a second major special legal regime territory within roughly six weeks of the first. For international technology companies, AI developers and researchers, venture capital and startup investors, and foreign educational institutions, the Center offers a genuinely distinct operating environment: English common law as a residual source of law, a dedicated commercial court, a regulatory sandbox for testing new products without full regulatory exposure, an explicit constitutional guarantee of freedom to conduct AI research and development, and tax and customs exemptions running to 2100.

The regulatory sandbox mechanism is likely to be the most immediately actionable feature for companies wanting to test new digital products, fintech applications or AI-driven services in a controlled environment ahead of full market rollout. The freedom-of-AI-research guarantee is a notable and relatively unusual explicit constitutional protection, though its practical scope will depend on how the listed exceptions, public safety, security and international obligations, are applied in practice.

As with the Financial Centre, the practical test will be the pace and substance of the Governing Council's implementing decisions, due within six months of the law's entry into force. Companies considering the Center should monitor the adoption of these foundational decisions, particularly the criteria for sandbox participation, the list of priority activities eligible for profit tax exemption, and the licensing framework for foreign educational institutions, as these will determine how accessible and commercially useful the Center actually becomes.