Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 11 September 2020, the seventh plenary meeting of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan was held in Tashkent.

The plenary session, which was held in the form of videoconference, was attended by members of the government, heads of ministries and departments, and representatives of the media.

The members of the upper house of parliament considered 16 issues, including 7 laws.

First, the senators discussed the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”.

It was noted that today more than 700 thousand persons with disabilities live in Uzbekistan, including more than 100 thousand children with disabilities under the age of 16.

The Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which provides for international standards and requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as the use of the term “person with disabilities” instead of the word “disabled”, serves to protect the rights and interests of representatives of the above category.

The adoption of the Law "On the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" will allow our compatriots to enjoy new benefits in comparison with the current legislation.

With the entry into force of the Law, the work of medical commissions will improve, the applicant will receive an opinion within 10 calendar days. Medical examinations will be free of charge. Persons with disabilities will receive preferential treatment in outpatient and inpatient conditions, as well as their needs for prosthetic and orthopedic equipment will be met.

For persons with disabilities, special corridors, ramps, special places in public transport, facilities for entering and exiting at stops will be created. They are provided with conveniences at all stages of training. Their vocational training, training in colleges and technical schools is provided at the expense of the state. For their higher education, state grants will be allocated at the rate of 2% of the total contingent.

Local khokimiyats are responsible for improving the living conditions of persons with disabilities. The right to receive assistance is ensured, including with the provision of services at home and at the place of residence in fulfilling obligations related to marriage and the creation of a family, adoption, and raising children.

The state provides material, consultative and other assistance and support to families raising children with disabilities.

This law was approved by the senators.

Further, the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On International Commercial Arbitration" was discussed.

Currently, in the context of the deepening globalization of the economy, the development of economic relations and the harmonization of legislation at the international level, international arbitration, which is one of the key factors of market relations at the national and international levels, is gaining increasing importance as an alternative and out-of-court settlement of disputes.

During the discussion, it was noted that there was a need for legal regulation of the organization and termination of the activities of international commercial arbitration courts in Uzbekistan, defining the basic principles of the international commercial arbitration court, as well as reliable protection of the rights and legitimate interests of foreign investors, national companies in their relations with foreign partners.

The purpose of the adoption of this Law is to reduce the costs of economic entities when considering disputes, to determine mechanisms for the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards and, on this basis, to improve the country’s image in the region when resolving disputes under international treaties.

Summing up, it should be noted that the implementation of this Law will allow the development of arbitration proceedings in Uzbekistan as an important institution of civil society, which is an alternative method for resolving disputes, contributes to the creation of the necessary conditions for the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of entrepreneurs in the field of foreign economic activity, ensuring the reduction of terms and costs when considering disputes arising from foreign economic contracts.

The law was approved by the senators.

Then the parliamentarians considered the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On the prevention and treatment of drug addiction diseases."

The law is important, first of all, because it is aimed at eliminating the vices of human behavior, such as alcoholism, drug addiction or substance abuse, which sometimes occur in public life, are alien to our nature and negatively affect the healthy development of our youth.

The law stipulates a complex of social, educational and medical and psychological measures aimed at identifying and eliminating the causes and conditions that contribute to the spread and non-medical use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol abuse, and preventing the development of their negative personal, social and medical consequences.

It is envisaged that citizens’ self-government bodies provide assistance to preventive inspectors of internal affairs bodies in the implementation of preventive registration of persons suffering from drug addiction diseases, including those prone to antisocial behavior.

The Law states that the decision to send a person suffering from a narcological disease for compulsory treatment is made in his presence within twenty days by the court at his place of residence or at the location of the narcological institution.

It is legally stipulated that local authorities and labor bodies promote the employment of persons suffering from drug addiction diseases and their social adaptation.

According to the law, the state guarantees to persons suffering from narcological diseases consultative and diagnostic, medical, psychoprophylactic, rehabilitation, social assistance in outpatient and inpatient conditions.

It is established that narcological dispensaries are organized in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions, the city of Tashkent, as well as large cities of the country as independent medical and preventive institutions of the republican, regional, city or inter-district level. At the same time, drug treatment on an outpatient basis is provided by drug treatment rooms organized in the structure of central district (city) multidisciplinary polyclinics.

Senators made a decision to approve this Law.

Further, the senators heard information from the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the execution of the State budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the first half of 2020.

It was noted that the execution of the State budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the first half of 2020 was aimed at ensuring the implementation of budget parameters established by the Law "On the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2020", decrees and resolutions of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection, to overcome the consequences of the global crisis , as well as resolutions of the Government and the Anti-Crisis Commission.

Due to the impact of the slowdown in global growth rates on the country’s economy in the first half of 2020, the volume of GDP in current prices made up 255.3 trillion soums or 0.2% compared to the same period of last year.

The revenues of the consolidated budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the first half of 2020 amounted to 71.6 trillion soums or 28.8% of GDP, and expenditures - 80.5 trillion soums or 32.4% of GDP.

As a result of the adoption of measures aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus infection in the country, the execution of state budget revenues for 6 months of 2020 reached 58.2 trillion soums or 45.3% in relation to the approved annual parameters. During the reporting period, an increase in the inflow of funds was achieved by 15% compared to the same period of last year.

State budget expenditures for the first half of 2020 made up 64.9 trillion soums, which is 1.2 times more than in the same period of last year. As a result, salaries and equivalent payments in the amount of 23.1 trillion soums and deductions for salaries in the amount of 5.0 trillion soums were timely and fully financed.

In addition, within 6 months, 9.0 trillion soums were allocated from the State budget for economic expenses. soums or 13.9% of all expenses, for investment expenses - 6.0 trillion soums or 9.2% of all expenses.

In the reporting period, the main factor contributing to the increase in spending on health care, pensions and benefits, the economy and investments was the cost of measures to ensure sanitary and epidemiological well-being and safety of the population, to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection, as well as measures to provide social support to the population in a pandemic.

In particular, as of 1 July 2020 at the expense of the Anti-Crisis Fund in the amount of 5.6 trillion soums, measures were financed to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection, support entrepreneurship and employment, expand social support for the population, and ensure the sustainable functioning of various sectors of the economy.

In addition, during the reporting period, certain work was done to strengthen the autonomy of local budget management, ensure guaranteed funding for socio-economic development programs, increase the responsibility of local governments in the formation of local budgets and the effective use of funds.

In particular, in the first half of this year, the forecast for local budget revenues made up 10.2 trillion soums and the plan was actually fulfilled by 12.9 trillion soums. Basically, the established forecast plans were ensured by creating new business entities, increasing the production capacity of low-power enterprises, creating new and legalizing additional jobs, reducing tax arrears, and conducting desk audits.

It was noted at the meeting that although the forecast of the total revenues of local budgets by region was fulfilled, the planned targets for some types of taxes were not fulfilled. In particular, as of 1 July 2020, tax arrears to local budgets amounted to 2.9 trillion soums and increased by 112 billion soums compared to the beginning of the year. The share of local budgets in the state budget revenues was 22.1%, and their share in total expenditures was 31.1%.

It was also noted that in connection with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the application of quarantine measures, a number of changes have been made to the expenditure side of local budgets.

In particular, about 1 trillion soums were optimized from the budget of the Republic of Karakalpakstan and local budgets. In the first half of this year, 164 billion soums were allocated for the population and economic infrastructure of the Bukhara region, affected on April 27-28, 2020 due to strong winds, additional funds in the amount of 500 billion soums to support the population affected by the emergency for Sardoba reservoir and infrastructure restoration.

In addition, since 1 April 2020, the number of recipients of benefits for families with children under 14, benefits for childcare and financial assistance until the child reaches the age of two has increased by 10%. As a result of these measures, by the end of this year, the number of recipients of social benefits and material assistance will amount to 657.8 thousand families (+ 60.3 thousand). 211.8 billion soums will be allocated from the Anti-Crisis Fund to pay them additional benefits, of which 91.3 billion soums have been financed.

Attention is also drawn to the shortcomings made in the reporting period. In particular, the collection of funds in the amount of 51.7 billion soums to the budget was not ensured in relation to the identified additional income.

At the same time, budget transfers in the amount of 626 billion soums have been allocated to local budgets from the republican budget in order to prevent temporary cash gaps caused by untimely receipts of revenues to local budgets due to the pandemic, and timely financing of fixed costs in the reporting period.

Thanks to the measures taken to support the population and business entities during the coronavirus pandemic, 7669 small firms, small businesses and individual entrepreneurs received preferences in the amount of 132.7 billion soums for extending the deadline for paying taxes on property, land and water until October 1, 2020.

A corresponding resolution of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis was adopted on this issue.

After that, the discussion centered on the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Connection with Improving the Activities of Kengashes of People’s Deputies".

It was noted that although in recent years a regulatory and legal framework has been created to strengthen the control activities of Kengashes, the laws establish the accountability of the khokim, his deputy, the heads of the prosecutor’s office, court, internal affairs and health care system to the relevant Kengeshes, in practice this does not give the expected results.

In accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On a legal experiment on the introduction of a special management procedure in the city of Tashkent", the secretariats of the Tashkent city and district Kengashes of people’s deputies, created as an experiment, are effectively working.

The law introduces an amendment to the Law "On local government", according to which the task of organizational, technical and other services for the activities of regional, district and city Kengashes of people’s deputies was transferred from the apparatus of khokimiyats to the Secretariat of the corresponding Kengash of people’s deputies.

It is established that the Secretariat is a legal entity, and its activities are financed from the relevant local budget. The structure of the Secretariat, staffing, salary and material and technical support of employees, as well as the costs necessary for their work, are approved by the relevant Kengash of people’s deputies.

In addition, it was noted at the meeting that with the implementation of this Law, the implementation of the regional, district, city Kengashes of people’s deputies of effective deputy control over the activities of state bodies will be ensured.

At the same time, this Law introduces amendments and additions to such laws as “On Joint Stock Companies and Protection of Shareholders’ Rights”, “On Counteracting Legalization of Incomes Received from Criminal Activity, Financing of Terrorism and Financing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction”, “On the Securities Market papers”, “On weapons”.

The Protection Order was established by the Law on the Protection of Women from Oppression and Violence. However, the law remains open to the question of liability for failure to comply with the restrictions provided for by the protection order. Therefore, for the failure to comply with the requirements of the protection order by a person prone to committing or having committed harassment and (or) violence, administrative liability is established, which once again guarantees compliance with these restrictions.

In turn, the Law "On State Duty" was supplemented with a new clause, according to which the plaintiff is exempted from paying the state duty in civil courts for claims for compensation for material damage and compensation for moral harm to women who have suffered from oppression and violence.

Also, according to the amendments, the corresponding part of the article of the Criminal Code, establishing responsibility for violation of the right to work, is set out in a new edition. In accordance with it, the victim can be not only the mother of the child, but also another person close to him.

It is prohibited to transport goods and passengers by vehicles belonging to foreign carriers between points located on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan (cabotage), unless otherwise specified by international treaties. Therefore, the Code of Administrative Responsibility of Uzbekistan is supplemented by a new article establishing liability for the illegal use of vehicles intended for the transport of goods and (or) passengers registered in other countries.

Taking into account the increase in cases of illegal actions, as well as in order to strengthen responsibility for obstructing the legal activities of the state inspector of the environmental and environmental protection bodies, as well as failure to comply with his instructions, the Code of Administrative Responsibility of Uzbekistan is supplemented with a new article.

It was noted that the introduction of the above changes and additions will serve to ensure the rule of law in our country, to solve the problems of the population of concern to the population, to reliably protect their rights and freedoms, as well as to increase the responsibility of state bodies.

Senators approved the law.

Further, the next issue on the agenda was discussed - the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with the further reduction of bureaucratic barriers and the introduction of modern management principles in the activities of state bodies and organizations."

The law was developed in pursuance of the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On measures to further reduce bureaucratic barriers and the introduction of modern management principles in the activities of state bodies and organizations" and the "Roadmap" approved by this decree.

In order to bring some legislative acts in line with this resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, amendments and additions are made to 6 laws and 3 codes.

In particular, in accordance with the amendments made to Articles 42, 98 and 103 "On Water and Water Use", functions and powers that provide for the coordination of technological, forest reclamation, agrotechnical, hydraulic engineering, sanitary and technical measures with local government bodies are excluded. This will eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic barriers to the free activity of enterprises in the field of water use.

Changes and additions are also made to Articles 6 and 291 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility. In particular, Article 6 of the Code excludes the powers of local government bodies to make decisions on administrative responsibility.

That is, the issues of maintaining public order are excluded if they are not regulated by the Code of Administrative Responsibility of the Republic of Uzbekistan, functions and powers to make decisions on combating natural disasters and epidemics. This will put an end to discretionary powers that generate corruption in local government operations.

Also, article 291 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility is amended in terms of the grounds and procedure for the detention and inspection of vehicles.

The procedure for detaining vehicles for the absence of an insurance policy for compulsory civil liability insurance of vehicle owners will be canceled. This strengthens the guarantees of property rights of citizens, which helps to prevent corruption due to the reduction of the penalty base for citizens.

Changes and additions to the Labor Code are also being made. In particular, article 80 of the Code excludes a certificate of residence from the list of documents required for employment. Thanks to this, unnecessary bureaucratic barriers will be removed when citizens conclude labor contracts and red tape will be eliminated.

In accordance with Article 13 of the Law "On the Protection of Atmospheric Air", the functions and powers of local government bodies to make decisions on the limitation, suspension and termination of activities related to violation of the conditions and requirements stipulated in the conclusion of the state environmental expertise on pollutant emissions are excluded into the atmosphere by stationary sources of air pollution. Thanks to this, unusual functions and powers of local government bodies will be abolished, and the State Committee for Ecology and Environmental Protection will ensure the full organization of state environmental control over compliance with legislation in the field of atmospheric air protection.

The functions and powers of local government bodies in the issuance of permits for the preparation of wild plants for the needs of animal husbandry, enshrined in Articles 34 and 45 of the Law "On the protection and use of the flora", are transferred to the territorial divisions of the State Committee on Ecology and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions and the city of Tashkent. As a result, the intervention of local government bodies in the activities of entrepreneurs engaged in the procurement of wild plants for the needs of animal husbandry will be reduced.

Article 111 of the Housing Code abolishes the requirement to provide a certificate from the place of residence indicating the persons living in the dwelling, which is attached to the application for the exchange of dwellings of the owner, tenant, member of a housing construction or housing cooperative.

Also, in accordance with the amendment to article 117 of this Code, a certificate from the place of residence is not required, which must be attached to the application for the issuance of a protection certificate (reservation). Now citizens are not required to provide a certificate of residence when exchanging housing and issuing a security certificate (reservation).

Article 15 of the Law "On Forest" excludes the functions and powers of local government bodies to make decisions on the limitation, suspension and termination of the activities of organizations in the event that they harm the state of forests. This will reduce the interference of state authorities in the activities of entrepreneurs.

From Article 23 of the Law "On Guardianship and Guardianship", the words "certificates and characteristics from the self-government body of citizens at their place of residence" are excluded, which are attached to the application of a person who has expressed a desire to become a guardian or guardian. Thanks to this, favorable conditions will be created for citizens wishing to become guardians and trustees.

From the second part of Article 18 of the Law "On Administrative Supervision over a Certain Category of Persons Released from Penitentiary Institutions", the words "certificate of the citizens’ self-government body" are excluded, which is attached to the documents on the measures taken to establish the place of stay and reasons for non-arrival of the supervised person, attached by the body internal affairs when sending to the court a submission about the need to declare a search in respect of him in the case when the place of stay of the supervised person has not been established. This creates an opportunity to simplify the office work of the internal affairs bodies.

After an active discussion, the senators approved the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with the further reduction of bureaucratic barriers and the introduction of modern management principles in the activities of state bodies and organizations."

After that, in accordance with Articles 69 and 78 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Articles 18, 23 and 25 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On the administrative-territorial structure of the Republic of Uzbekistan", the resolution of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis "On changing the boundaries of Zangiata, Kuyichirchik, Yangiyul and Urtachirchik districts of Tashkent region, Sergeli and Bektemir districts of the city of Tashkent, as well as the Tashkent region and the city of Tashkent and the formation of Yangikhayot district as part of the city of Tashkent. "

During a public meeting held during the visit of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to Zangiata and Sergeli districts in May 2020, the President put forward a proposal to create Yangikhayot district within the city of Tashkent. This proposal was supported by the population of Tashkent region and the city of Tashkent in July this year. The question of the formation of Yangikhayot district within the city of Tashkent was approved by the Kengashes of People’s Deputies of Tashkent and Tashkent region.

2,131.2 hectares were allocated to the newly formed Yangikhayot district from the city of Tashkent, and 2,288.4 hectares from Tashkent region, a total of 4,419.6 hectares of land. The boundaries of the Tashkent region and the city of Tashkent are being agreed.

On this territory there are 115 industrial enterprises, 277 enterprises providing services, 1,148.8 hectares of agricultural land and 388.8 hectares of household lands of the population.

It should be noted that the newly formed district is included in the category of districts under the jurisdiction of the city of Tashkent, with a population of 147 thousand people, which is 5.8% of the capital’s population. This will increase the efficiency of management, thanks to the creation of a district khokimiyat, district subdivisions of ministries and departments, consisting of 47 staff units.

In addition, in order to ensure employment and improve the living conditions of the population, it is planned to develop a separate Program for the integrated development of the region and determine its future prospects.

The meeting also approved the resolution of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis "On the formation of the Davlatabad district within the city of Namangan, Namangan region."

It should be noted that the Davlatabad district was founded on 29 August 1977 and occupied an area of 1125 hectares. By the decision of the Oliy Majlis of 12 December 2003, the region was abolished and on January 1, 2004 it became part of the city of Namangan.

In accordance with the discussed resolution of the Senate, on the territory of 4686 hectares of the land area of the city of Namangan (26%), the Davlatabad district is created, which is almost 4.2 times larger than Davlatabad district, which existed before 2004.

At the same time, Davlatabad district will be included in the category of districts within the city, and a district khokimiyat, all district offices of ministries and departments within 21 staff units will be created.

In the newly formed district, 25 makhalla citizens’ gatherings, 33850 apartments, 421 apartment buildings, 3 vocational colleges, 18 secondary schools, 24 preschool educational institutions, 5 medical institutions will be built, 1280 hectares of agricultural land, 698 economic objects, 429 industrial enterprises and 2 cultural heritage site.

The population of the region is 149.6 thousand people or 23.8% of the population of the city of Namangan. In the future, the construction of modern multi-storey buildings will accelerate the process of urbanization, development of infrastructure and service systems for the population.

Then the members of the Senate considered the issue of sending a parliamentary inquiry to the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the state of measures taken to develop scientific activity.

It was noted that in 2017-2019, 1 law, 27 decrees and resolutions of the President and more than 40 government decrees were adopted, aimed at regulating and supporting scientific activities in the republic.

The attention paid to the development of science in the country is bearing fruit. Currently, priority is given to geology, mathematics, chemistry and biology.

However, despite these efforts, a number of challenges remain.

According to the study and analysis, although the innovation development strategy provides for an increase in funding of science by 0.8% in relation to GDP until 2021, this indicator in 2018-2020 is stably at 0.15%.

Funds allocated to science today amount to only 0.2% in relation to GDP.

Due to the increase in the number of higher educational institutions, the level of creating a new material and technical base, the number of professors and teachers with advanced degrees in educational institutions is insufficient, the indicator of scientific potential is at a low level.

According to the analysis, the indicator of the defense of dissertations by graduates of basic doctoral and doctoral studies over the past three years amounted to 54.7%.

The problem of creating sufficient conditions for the continuation of the scientific activities of masters has not been completely solved.

The level of scientific activity in educational institutions of the country’s regions remains low. Most of the dissertations were defended in Tashkent - 66%, the remaining 34% - in the regions and the Republic of Karakalpakstan.

Based on the current circumstances that hinder the development of scientific activities, the Senate Committee of the Oliy Majlis on Science, Education and Healthcare requires clarifications from the Cabinet of Ministers.

A corresponding resolution of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis was adopted on this issue. Further, the senators discussed the issue of sending a parliamentary request to the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the conditions created for the development of women’s entrepreneurship.

It was noted that on 13-18 July 2020, the Committee of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis on Women and Gender Equality studied the problems arising in the development of women’s entrepreneurship in Uzbekistan and issues of compliance with legislation in this area using the example of Tashkent and the Tashkent region.

It was noted that despite the fact that the number of women entrepreneurs who ceased their activities in 2019-2020 exceeded the number of women who started their own businesses, no systematic analysis was carried out in this area. These problems have not been thoroughly studied, and effective measures have not been developed to solve them.

In particular, in 2019-2020, only 108,782 business entities were created by women. However, during this period 115,920 women entrepreneurs stopped their activities. This creates problems for women such as unemployment, dependence on others.

In addition, there are many families in need of social protection. However, the work on their social support is not carried out at the proper level. Advocacy work has been ineffectively organized to train women who are members of such families, develop entrepreneurship, and start their own business.

The results of the study showed that the situation on the labor market is insufficiently analyzed by the responsible authorities, and information on available vacancies is not reflected in full in the relevant reports. As a result, targeted measures are not being taken to identify women and young people who really need work, as well as to ensure their employment.

The number of unemployed women in difficult living conditions does not decrease due to the fact that work with unemployed and socially inactive women is not organized effectively.

In connection with the above, the Senate of the Oliy Majlis decided to send a parliamentary inquiry to the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the conditions created for the development of women’s entrepreneurship.

Then, the discussion focused on the results of a parliamentary inquiry sent to the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan on problems in the process of building affordable housing.

It was noted that the Cabinet of Ministers formed a working group headed by the Minister of Construction, which included senior officials of the relevant ministries and departments. Some work has already been done.

By the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated November 28, 2019, a new procedure for providing the population with housing through mortgage loans was introduced, based on market principles. In accordance with it, targeted benefits are provided for low-income strata of the population instead of the supply of construction materials at a reduced price to existing construction contractors and the establishment of tax incentives.

In particular, it is envisaged to allocate subsidies to citizens who do not have high incomes and need to improve their living conditions for the initial payment or to cover part of the interest on the loan.

In addition, in addition to this, on the basis of the Tax Code for homeowners, the cost of which does not exceed 300 million soums, an annual income tax benefit of 15 million soums has been established.

It is also envisaged to create a unified electronic database of construction companies operating in the online system, hold competitive tenders and apply measures to control state construction through the national information system "Transparent Construction".

In addition, at the meeting, it was especially noted that, given the important role in the life of the population of the construction sector, today such tasks as ensuring transparency of the effective use of allocated funds, attracted investments, modernization, accelerated and innovative development of the sector, quality assurance and construction control on based on best practices, effective application of the introduced new order.

In particular, they noted the importance of further improving measures aimed at bringing regulatory legal norms in the field of construction to the level of advanced foreign experience, ensuring openness and transparency of all processes in the field of construction, taking measures to reduce construction costs based on foreign experience, strengthening the responsibility of construction organizations that violate consumer rights. They also talked about the feasibility of establishing the provision of affordable mortgage loans.

In addition, the meeting noted the need to simplify the procedure for issuing subsidies for the purchase of housing and the applied credit policy to citizens in need of housing, ensuring compliance with the requirements of a market economy in the practice of delivering building materials in a centralized manner, introducing an electronic (online) system to ensure transparency in construction. sphere, creating an open database on housing.

After an active discussion on this issue, a corresponding resolution of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis was adopted.

Further, the members of the upper chamber discussed the results of the parliamentary inquiry on problems in providing the population with natural gas, sent to the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

It was noted that the tasks to provide the population with natural gas, to fully satisfy their needs for natural gas are based on the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On measures to provide the economy and the population with energy resources, financial recovery and improve the management system of the oil and gas industry."

In addition, in accordance with this presidential decree and the Concept for the Development of the Oil and Gas Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan until 2030, priority is given to increasing hydrocarbon production, modernizing the gas transmission system, accounting and monitoring production, processing, supply and sale of natural gas. At the same time, a number of tasks are being addressed, such as critical revision and optimization of investment projects, improvement of mechanisms for their implementation and strengthening of financial discipline in the oil and gas industry.

At the meeting, problems and shortcomings in this area were identified. In particular, it was noted that there are still a number of shortcomings in the supply of natural gas to the population and enterprises, the actual possibilities of transporting and supplying natural gas by gas supply enterprises are not taken into account when concluding agreements on the supply of natural gas, in the regions the work on inventory of apartments is not well organized, not provided with natural gas and liquefied gas.

In addition, it was noted the need to take practical measures to solve the problems associated with the weak organization of work on the revision of the current legislation and bylaws to comply with the requirements of consumer protection in order to identify shortcomings and problems with the supply of gas to the population, without considering the relevant laws and regulations at the required level. acts in order to ensure the necessary level of work to protect the rights and interests of the population in the use of natural and liquefied gas.

This issue has been noted. In addition, proceeding from the fact that local officials in this direction admit some shortcomings, taking into account citizens’ appeals, a proposal was made to hear information from the Ministry of Energy at the next plenary session of the Senate.

They also discussed the results of a parliamentary inquiry sent to the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the state of compliance with legislation in the adoption of decisions by khokims.

It was noted that the Cabinet of Ministers approved the Plan of practical measures to ensure the implementation of the Senate resolution.

The approved measures reflect such issues as the automation of the decision-making process by khokims, monitoring by the Government of decisions related to entrepreneurship, as well as the establishment of a system of regular informing by khokims of the media and the public about the implementation of established indicators and target parameters on their territory, the development of mechanisms of public control over their activities ...

At the same time, at the meeting the emphasis was placed on the work on taking additional measures in this direction. In particular, the parliamentary inquiry requested information on the activities of local government bodies and the work currently being carried out to ensure the transparency of the decision-making process concerning citizens and business.

However, the Government’s Action Plan provides only for monitoring decisions concerning entrepreneurship and developing mechanisms for taking appropriate measures based on its results. The issue of monitoring the decisions of khokims concerning the rights of citizens (allocation of land, demolition of housing, etc.) also remains open.

In addition, there is no substantiated information on whether or not, in order to prevent violations of the law, other decisions of khokims of districts (cities) that are not legal (allocation of land, demolition of housing, etc.) should be taken on the basis of the conclusions of the justice departments.

Another feature. No attention has been paid to decision-making by local executive bodies and regular submission of information to the Kengashes of People’s Deputies for the implementation of parliamentary control aimed at enhancing the transparency of the process associated with this.

It was noted at the meeting that the Cabinet of Ministers should continue to work on solving the problems raised in the parliamentary inquiry.

A corresponding resolution of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis was adopted on this issue.

The meeting also approved the resolution of the Kengash of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis.

At this, the seventh plenary session of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan completed its work.