Budget-Funded Contracts in Uzbekistan to Take Effect Only After Treasury Registration

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The Legislative Chamber and the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan have approved a law stipulating that contracts financed from the state budget will come into force only after mandatory registration with the treasury. The document has been sent to the President for consideration.

According to the explanatory notes, in recent years there has been an increase in cases where budgetary entities accepted goods and services under contracts that were neither registered with the treasury nor backed by actual funding sources. This often led to legal disputes and subsequent payments from the budget following court decisions.

The adopted amendments introduce changes to the Civil Code and the Law on the Contractual-Legal Framework for Business Entities. Under the new provision, budget-funded contracts will be considered valid only after registration with the relevant treasury departments.

During the discussion of the draft law on 3 December in the Legislative Chamber, Deputy Saidullo Azimov expressed concerns that centralized registration could delay procedures and create new corruption risks. He noted that additional time allowed for addressing comments could conflict with strict deadlines set by existing laws and decrees.

In response, Sherzod Mukhamedov, Director of the Budget Policy Department at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, acknowledged the systemic nature of the problem. According to him, in 2023–2024 and the first nine months of 2025, courts issued 3,228 rulings on contracts concluded in violation of public procurement procedures and without treasury registration. Nearly 1.1 trillion soums were paid from the budget under these rulings.

Mukhamedov emphasized that digitalization of processes and regulatory requirements should eliminate artificial delays: the treasury is obliged to register contracts within three days, and employees will face accountability for unjustified refusals or prolonged processing times.

Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Akhadbek Khaydarov explained that the lack of mandatory registration had allowed contracts to be concluded without real financing. As a result, contractors performed work and later sought payment through the courts.

“The contractor completes the work, wins the case, and the treasury is forced to register the contract post facto — using funds that do not exist in the budget,” he noted. Khaydarov added that during registration, the treasury verifies the availability of funds in the budget and ensures that the contract complies with public procurement legislation, preventing problems before work begins.

Abdulhakim Eshmuratov, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judicial-Legal Affairs and Anti-Corruption, described the previous practice as a “corruption loophole.” He reported that between 2020 and 2024 alone, courts reviewed 7,120 cases involving contracts executed in violation of the law and without treasury registration, with total payments exceeding 1.2 trillion soums.

Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court, Shukhrat Polvanov, noted that the actual scale of the problem is even greater, as some financial obligations of budgetary organizations have yet to reach the courts. According to him, proper planning and timely registration of contracts could have prevented most disputes.

Senators and government representatives agreed that the new provision will protect both the state budget and entrepreneurs, eliminating the practice of “working on credit” and ensuring compliance with budgetary discipline.