UZBEKISTAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Sherzod Abdulkasimov, Nazokat Kamilova and Navruza Yunusova, PraeLegal Uzbekistan
6.2 Role of Courts The courts have a defined, concurrent supporting role. Under Article 14 of the ICA Law, a party may apply to the court for interim measures before or dur - ing the arbitration without breaching the arbitration agreement; this is available whether or not the tribunal is constituted and is used where urgency, the need to bind third parties or coercive enforcement makes court relief more effective. That power extends to foreign-seated arbitrations: by Article 4 of the ICA Law, the Uzbek courts may grant interim relief in aid of a foreign-seated arbitration and enforce interim measures ordered by a foreign-seated tribunal. The relief available is that under the EP Code – prin - cipally attachment or freezing of assets, prohibitory measures, preservation of the status quo, and meas - ures to secure evidence or property. The ICA Law does not regulate emergency arbitrators; their availability depends on the parties’ chosen rules. Where those apply, an emergency arbitrator’s decision binds the parties contractually and the relief mirrors Article 22 of the ICA Law, but its status as a court- enforceable interim measure under Articles 30–32 is untested. Finally, the appointment of an emergency arbitrator does not oust the courts. The court’s power under Article 14 of the ICA Law is concurrent and survives that appointment, so a party may still seek interim relief from the court – a course particularly relevant where coercive enforcement or measures against third parties are required. Under the Law on Domestic Arbitration, the courts likewise assist with interim measures and their enforcement, but the regime has no framework for foreign-seated proceedings or emergency arbitrators. 6.3 Security for Costs Neither regime addresses security for costs by name, so it depends on the general interim-measures pow - ers.
A tribunal seated in Uzbekistan may order security for costs under its power to grant interim measures (Article 22 of the ICA Law, subject to the conditions in Article 23, which also lets the tribunal require a party to provide appropriate security). As the power is not express, parties wanting it clearly available should rely on institutional rules or provide for it in the arbitration agreement. The Law on Domestic Arbitration offers no equivalent route, the domestic tribunal having no interim-measures power of its own. The courts are an unlikely source: security for costs is not among the measures contemplated by the EP Code, and the court’s role under Article 14 of the ICA Law is limited to the protective measures that its own procedural law recognises. Arbitral procedure in Uzbekistan is governed by two principal statutes according to the character of the arbitration: the ICA Law, which is modelled on the Model Law and applies to international commercial arbitration seated in Uzbekistan, and the Law on Domestic Arbitration, which governs domestic arbi - tration. Both laws rest on party autonomy: the parties may agree the procedure, and only failing agreement does the tribunal conduct the arbitration as it sees fit. Court-support and supervisory functions – appoint - ment, interim measures, setting aside, enforcement – run through the EP Code. 7.2 Procedural Steps Uzbek law prescribes few mandatory procedural steps, leaving the detailed conduct of the arbitration to party agreement and, failing that, to the tribunal. The overriding requirements under the ICA Law are the mandatory guarantees of Article 33: the parties must be treated equally and each given a reasonable opportunity to present its case. 7. Procedure 7.1 Governing Rules Within that framework, the ICA Law sets out a rec - ognisable sequence. Unless otherwise agreed, pro - ceedings commence when the respondent receives
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