UZBEKISTAN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Sherzod Abdulkasimov, Nazokat Kamilova and Navruza Yunusova, PraeLegal Uzbekistan
PraeLegal Uzbekistan 6th floor 77, Bobur Str. Tashkent Uzbekistan 100022
Tel: +998 95 198 21 12 Email: info@praelegal.uz Web: praelegal.uz
Introduction Uzbekistan’s arbitration landscape is undergoing one of the most significant transformations in its history. The substance of its arbitration law is already mod - ern – the governing statute is closely modelled on the 1985 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commer - cial Arbitration, as amended in 2006 (the “UNCITRAL Model Law”) – so the reforms now under way are not aimed at the black-letter law of arbitration; they are aimed at the institutional and, above all, the judicial architecture that surrounds it: how, and before which court, arbitral awards are enforced and challenged. That distinction matters, because for most investors the practical value of an arbitration clause lies not in the elegance of the governing statute but in the speed and reliability with which an award can be turned into recovered assets. It is precisely here that Uzbeki - stan is changing. The centrepiece of its 2026 reform agenda is the Tashkent International Financial Centre (TIFC) and its dedicated court, the Tashkent Interna - tional Commercial Court (TICC). The framework Con - stitutional Law “On Tashkent International Financial Centre” (ZRU-1158) (the “Constitutional Law”) was adopted on 13 July 2026 and has now entered into force; once the TIFC and TICC become fully opera - tional, they will offer a specialised English language forum, applying English legal principles, that parties can choose for arbitration-related court business con - nected to the TIFC– an additional avenue alongside the existing courts. This article therefore proceeds in the following order: it first sets out the current legal and institutional framework; it then explains how an arbitral award is
enforced in Uzbekistan today, and examines how the TICC would fit alongside that current regime. What the TICC would add to the current position is an important consideration for anyone weighing Uzbekistan as a seat of arbitration or as a place of enforcement, and it frames the discussion of the supporting trends – the modernisation of the rules of the Tashkent Interna - tional Arbitration Centre (TIAC), the parallel tightening of the domestic arbitration regime, and the growth of TIAC’s caseload – with which the article closes. The Legal and Institutional Framework Cross-border arbitration in Uzbekistan is governed by the Law “On International Commercial Arbitration” (No. ZRU-674), adopted on 16 February 2021 (the “ICA Law”). The ICA Law closely follows the UNCITRAL Model Law, including its provisions on court-ordered interim measures and the tribunal’s competence to rule on its own jurisdiction. Purely domestic arbitration between Uzbek parties remains governed by an older statute, the Law “On Arbitration Courts” of 16 October 2006 (No. ZRU-64) (the “Law on Domestic Arbitra - tion”), such that the two regimes operate in parallel. Because the international regime already conforms to the international standard, the friction that investors encounter lies not in the statute but in its application at the enforcement stage. The principal institution under the international regime is TIAC, created by presidential resolution of 5 November 2018 and operating under the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan since April 2019. It is known for its zero administrative fee model, its virtual case administration, and rules designed to attract international users.
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