Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Amendments and Additions to the Law 'On Credit Information Exchange' to Further Improve Credit Relations

Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan

On Amendments and Additions to the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Credit Information Exchange", aimed at further improving relations in the field of lending

Adopted by the Legislative Chamber on January 14, 2025

Approved by the Senate on February 20, 2025

In recent years, significant work has been done in the country to facilitate access of the population to financial services, improve the quality and expand the range of banking services, and simplify the procedures for providing loans.

At the same time, the growth of cases of issuing loans in the name of citizens without their knowledge and misappropriation of the provided funds using fraudulent methods requires the improvement of legal mechanisms for protecting the interests of citizens in the field of lending.

This Law introduces amendments and additions to the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Credit Information Exchange", providing natural persons with the right to establish and lift the ban on entering into credit transactions with them, the procedure and conditions for including them in the Registry of Persons Prohibited from Entering into Credit Transactions, as well as establishing liability for users of credit information for entering into a credit transaction in violation of the established ban.

In addition, measures and sanctions applied by the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan to credit bureaus for violations of the legislation regulating their activities are defined.

This Law will serve to prevent cases of issuing loans in the name of citizens without their knowledge and misappropriation of the provided funds, as well as to improve the legal basis for the activities of credit bureaus.

Article 1.

Make the following amendments and additions to the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated October 4, 2011 No. ZRU-301 "On Credit Information Exchange" (Vedomosti palat Oliy Majlisi Respubliki Uzbekistan, 2011, No. 10, art. 271; 2013, No. 4, art. 98; 2015, No. 8, art. 312; 2019, No. 3, art. 166; 2020, No. 1, arts. 1, 3; 2021, appendix to No. 4, No. 10, art. 968; 2022, No. 3, art. 216, No. 4, art. 340; 2024, No. 2, art. 105):

1. in Article 3:

rephrase the fourth paragraph as follows:

"credit information subject — a legal or natural person acting respectively as a borrower (debtor), lessee, guarantor, surety, pledgor, and policyholder in a credit transaction, as well as a natural person who has submitted an application to credit bureaus to include information in the registry prohibiting the conclusion of a credit transaction with them or to lift such a ban";

rephrase the sixth paragraph as follows:

"credit information user — a legal or natural person acting respectively as a creditor, lessor, pledgee, and insurer in a credit transaction, as well as a legal entity authorized to use credit information in accordance with legislation";

add a seventh paragraph of the following content:

"registry of persons prohibited from entering into credit transactions — a unified database containing information about natural persons prohibited from entering into credit transactions, which is maintained by credit bureaus";

2. in Article 4:

add a fifth paragraph of the following content:

"about the presence of a ban on entering into a credit transaction with a natural person or about lifting such a ban in the registry of persons prohibited from entering into credit transactions";

consider the fifth paragraph as the sixth paragraph;

3. in Part Two of Article 5:

add a fifth paragraph of the following content:

"about the date and time of submission of the application to prohibit entering into a credit transaction with a natural person or to lift such a ban, the date of establishment or lifting of the ban, and the conditions of the ban";

consider the fifth paragraph as the sixth paragraph;

4. in Article 7:

add Part Two of the following content:

"The minimum size of the charter fund (charter capital) of a credit bureau must be two billion sum";

consider Parts Two through Five as Parts Three through Six, respectively;

exclude the words "not being a small business entity" from Part Four;

5. in Part Two of Article 8:

rephrase the second paragraph as follows:

"protocol of the general meeting of founders on the creation of a credit bureau or the decision of the sole founder on the creation of a credit bureau";

after the word "founders" in the fourth paragraph, add the word "(founder)";

after the words "charter fund" in the sixth paragraph, add the words "(charter capital)";

6. in Article 12:

rephrase the ninth paragraph of Part One as follows:

"applies measures and sanctions to credit bureaus for violation of legislative requirements";

add Part Three of the following content:

"The procedure for maintaining by credit bureaus the corresponding registry of persons prohibited from entering into credit transactions is determined by the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan";

7. add Article 12-1 of the following content:

"Article 12-1. Measures and sanctions applied to credit bureaus

The Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan applies measures and sanctions to credit bureaus for committing the following violations:

failure to comply with the requirements of legislation on the exchange of credit information and regulating the activities of credit bureaus;

violation of the rights of consumers of credit bureau services;

establishment of the fact of obtaining a license using forged documents.

Upon detection of violations specified in Part One of this Article, the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan has the right to apply the following measures and sanctions:

sending to credit bureaus mandatory orders to eliminate violations identified in their activities, including eliminating causes leading to the violation of the rights of consumers of credit bureau services;

imposing a fine in the amount of up to five thousand times the size of the basic calculated value.

When applying measures and sanctions, the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan takes into account:

the nature, scale of violations and their consequences;

systematicity and duration of violations;

the possibility of correcting the situation as a result of applied measures and (or) sanctions;

causes that led to the emergence of identified violations;

effectiveness (result) of previously applied measures and sanctions";

8. in Article 14:

add a ninth paragraph to Part One of the following content:

"provide credit information subjects and credit information users, upon their requests, information about the presence or absence of a natural person in the registry of persons prohibited from entering into credit transactions";

consider paragraphs nine and ten as paragraphs ten and eleven, respectively;

9. rephrase Part Two of Article 16 as follows:

"Information permitted for provision in accordance with legislation must be provided by:

banks and non-banking credit organizations, as well as payment organizations carrying out the activities of a microfinance organization — to the State Registry of Credit Information and credit bureaus;

leasing, insurance organizations, organizations providing commodity consumer credit — to credit bureaus";

10. add Article 16-1 of the following content:

"Article 16-1. Inclusion of information about natural persons in the registry of persons prohibited from entering into credit transactions

A natural person, in order to prevent the conclusion of a credit transaction without their participation or knowledge, may prohibit entering into a credit transaction with them by submitting an application to a credit bureau.

An application to prohibit entering into a credit transaction or to lift such a ban is submitted via the Unified Portal of Interactive State Services of the Republic of Uzbekistan in electronic form, through state service centers or credit bureaus based on a written or electronic appeal.

An application to prohibit entering into a credit transaction or to lift such a ban is immediately entered by the credit bureau into the registry of persons prohibited from entering into credit transactions from the moment of receipt.

The ban on entering into a credit transaction or the lifting of such a ban is carried out on a voluntary basis. At the same time, these services are provided free of charge in the manner established by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The list of applications to prohibit entering into a credit transaction with natural persons is maintained by credit bureaus in the registry of persons prohibited from entering into credit transactions.

It is prohibited to enter into a credit transaction without obtaining information from the registry of persons prohibited from entering into credit transactions about the presence of a ban on entering into a credit transaction or the lifting of such a ban. In this case, banks or non-banking credit organizations or payment organizations carrying out the activities of a microfinance organization bear responsibility for the legal consequences arising from a credit transaction concluded without the participation or knowledge of a natural person.

Users of credit information receive information about natural persons from the registry of persons prohibited from entering into credit transactions on a gratuitous basis";

11. in the second paragraph of Part One of Article 17, replace the words "State Registry of Legal Entities and State Registry of Individual Entrepreneurs" with the words "Unified State Registry of Business Entities";

12. in Part One of Article 22:

rephrase the eighth paragraph as follows:

"refuse to provide consent to the issuance of a credit report about themselves or prohibit (lift the ban on) their provision by credit bureaus";

add a tenth paragraph of the following content:

"submit an application to prohibit entering into a credit transaction or to lift such a ban in the established manner";

consider the tenth paragraph as the eleventh paragraph;

13. rephrase Part One of Article 24 as follows:

"The provision and exchange of credit information are carried out only for the purpose of risk assessment when concluding, modifying, and monitoring the execution of a credit transaction, including by rating assessment of credit information subjects, as well as for other purposes established by legislation".

Article 2.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan and other interested organizations shall ensure the implementation, dissemination to executors, and explanation to the population of the essence and significance of this Law.

Article 3.

The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan:

bring government decisions into compliance with this Law;

ensure the review and cancellation by republican executive bodies of their normative legal acts contradicting this Law.

Article 4.

This Law enters into force after the expiration of three months from the day of its official publication.

Paragraph nine of point 7 of Article 1 of this Law enters into force on July 1, 2026.

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sh. MIRZIYOYEV

Tashkent,

March 4, 2025,

No. ZRU-1043

(National Legislative Database, 05.03.2025, No. 03/25/1043/0217)