Uzbekistan’s 10-Year Business Overhaul Reshapes Corporate Playbook

Uzbekistan has spent the past decade remaking the rules of doing business, with reforms that have altered the practical and strategic landscape for companies from incorporation to taxation, licensing and legal protection. Since 2016, the government has rolled out a broad set of laws, presidential decrees and administrative decisions aimed at liberalizing the economy and changing how the state interacts with private enterprise.

For executives, investors and boards assessing Central Asia’s largest consumer market, the significance of those changes lies not only in new incentives or credit programs, but in the gradual redesign of the operating environment itself. Registration procedures, foreign exchange access, tax rules and licensing processes have all been revised. At the same time, Uzbekistan has built new institutions intended to protect entrepreneurs’ rights, lower regulatory friction and create a more predictable basis for expanding into foreign markets and attracting investment.

The reform cycle accelerated after Shavkat Mirziyoyev was elected president in 2016, when economic liberalization became one of the main directions of state policy. Its legal foundation was set by the 2017–2021 Action Strategy, adopted on February 7, 2017. The strategy’s second pillar was dedicated to economic development and liberalization, and many of the business-related measures adopted in the following years followed directly from that policy framework.

From 2022, the process continued under the New Uzbekistan Development Strategy. At the end of 2023, the country adopted the Uzbekistan 2030 strategy, setting out long-term economic and social goals. Taken together, those policy documents signal a sustained top-down effort to move the country toward a more open, administratively streamlined economy.

From control to institutional protection

One of the central conclusions of the reform drive was that reducing taxes or allocating credit would not by itself transform the business climate. Companies also needed mechanisms to defend their rights in dealings with state agencies. That led policymakers to treat the protection of entrepreneurs’ rights as a separate institutional priority in the early stage of reform.

On August 29, 2017, Law No. O‘RQ-440 established the institution of the Authorized Representative for the Protection of the Rights and Legitimate Interests of Business Entities under the President, known as the Business Ombudsman.

The creation of the Business Ombudsman was aimed at building a dedicated mechanism to protect entrepreneurs’ interests in relations with state bodies.

That move mattered at the boardroom level because it suggested a shift in official thinking: companies were no longer expected merely to comply with state control mechanisms, but were also granted a formal avenue for defense and recourse. The system was further strengthened by Presidential Decree PF-5490, adopted on July 27, 2018, which improved protections for the rights and legitimate interests of business entities and included measures to write off certain tax arrears.

Another decree, PF-5690 of March 15, 2019, was aimed at fundamentally improving the system for protecting entrepreneurial activity while optimizing the role of prosecutor’s offices in that process. In recent years the same direction has continued. Presidential Decree PF-184, adopted on November 14, 2024, introduced additional measures to more reliably protect entrepreneurs’ rights. Under that decree, financial sanctions for conducting business activity without state registration of a legal entity were abolished from 2025.

For corporate leaders, these measures point to a state effort to recalibrate enforcement risk. That does not eliminate regulatory exposure, but it does indicate that policymakers are trying to reduce the punitive burden associated with formalization and compliance.

Administrative simplification and operating costs

A second major reform track focused on the procedural bottlenecks that often determine whether market entry is feasible. Lengthy and complex administrative processes had been one of the main barriers to starting a business, so authorities moved to simplify registration, permitting and licensing.

On February 9, 2017, Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 66 approved a new procedure for the state registration of business entities. On April 11, 2018, Presidential Decree PF-5409 targeted the reduction and simplification of licensing and permitting procedures, while also calling for the introduction of G2G and G2B electronic interaction mechanisms between state bodies and business.

In 2020, another layer of discipline was added: before introducing new types of licensed activity, authorities were required to assess their impact on business. That process also envisioned participation by the Business Ombudsman and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

From 2024, the licensing system entered another phase. Under Decree PF-8, 22 types of licenses and permitting documents were abolished from March 1, 2024. For two types of activity, a “license-free business” regime was introduced.

The next wave of administrative reform began in 2025 and was aimed at cutting the time and cost businesses incur in dealing with state agencies. Plans called for linking registration systems, the License platform, electronic archives and ID-card databases. The expected result was a reduction in entrepreneurs’ administrative costs by approximately 90 billion soums and time savings of up to 15 days in interactions with government offices.

For management teams, that kind of back-office reform can matter as much as headline policy. Lower transaction costs and faster approvals affect market entry timelines, expansion planning and the economics of compliance.

Tax reform as a structural reset

Among the reforms of the past decade, the tax changes launched in 2018 stand out as one of the most systemic. Tax rates were reduced, some payments were consolidated, and a large share of businesses was moved to the general tax system. In practical terms, the shift was designed both to simplify the entrepreneurial environment and to recast tax relations across the economy.

Presidential Decree PF-5468, adopted on June 29, 2018, approved the Concept for Improving Tax Policy. Under that concept, a flat 12% income tax rate for individuals was introduced. Social payments were also reduced, with the rate cut from 25% to 12%. For some entities under the simplified tax regime, a 15% arrangement was set.

Another major change took effect on January 1, 2019. The scope of the unified tax payment was limited and retained only for legal entities and sole proprietors with annual turnover not exceeding 1 billion soums. Other businesses were transferred to the system of value-added tax and profit tax. Additional measures to improve tax administration were adopted in 2019, and a new version of the Tax Code entered into force on January 1, 2020.

For corporate strategy, the implication is clear: Uzbekistan’s business climate is no longer defined solely by selective incentives. It is increasingly shaped by a broader attempt to build institutions, codify administrative processes and normalize taxation across a larger share of the economy. The result is not a finished reform story, but a material shift in the operating assumptions that executives, investors and boards must bring to the market.