Uzbekistan to Restrict Officials’ Transition into Business and Introduce AI Oversight of Public Procurement

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan plans to shift toward digital corruption prevention and introduce new restrictions on the transition of public officials into the private sector.

The measures are set out in a presidential decree dated 16 February approving the State Program for 2026.

One of the key elements of the reform will be regulation of the so-called “cooling-off period” for former officials. The Accounts Chamber of Uzbekistan has been tasked with developing, by May 2026, a procedure that will limit employment of former civil servants in private companies that were under their direct or indirect supervision.

It is envisaged that for two years after leaving office, employment in such entities will only be possible with clearance from an internal anti-corruption compliance service.

The authorities explicitly acknowledge previous cases of “personnel leakage” from the public sector into business. In expert circles, for example, the career of Alisher Sultanov has been repeatedly discussed. He previously served as Minister of Energy and Deputy Prime Minister and, according to publicly available information, after leaving public office worked as an adviser to the oilfield services company Eriell, before later returning to government as a presidential adviser on energy security, a post from which he was dismissed in December 2025.

In international practice, which the reform’s authors are drawing upon, similar restrictions for individuals with access to sensitive and strategically important information often range from three to five years and are frequently accompanied by compensation mechanisms.

At the same time, the authorities are placing strong emphasis on digital tools. By 1 September 2026, the Anti-Corruption Agency of Uzbekistan, together with the Prosecutor General’s Office of Uzbekistan, is expected to launch a “Corruption Risk Map” system.

This electronic platform will cover 160 state organizations and 208 districts and cities, displaying in real time the most vulnerable functions and positions, statistics on corruption-related crimes, and the results of public opinion surveys. The data will be used to design targeted measures to reduce risks in specific agencies and regions.

From 1 March 2026, positions of deputy heads for compliance control and anti-corruption will be introduced in 32 ministries, agencies, and major state-owned companies. These include both social and economic branches of government as well as key infrastructure and resource companies, such as Uzbekistan Railways, Uzbekistan Airways, Uzbekistan Airports, Uzbekneftegaz, and Uzavtosanoat, as well as mining and metallurgical enterprises.

A separate block of reforms concerns public procurement. By June 2026, an automated control system with elements of artificial intelligence is to be introduced. The system will identify affiliations among tender participants, block related parties from bidding in the same lot, and generate a registry of unscrupulous contractors.

If suspicious links are detected, notifications will be automatically sent to contracting authorities and supervisory bodies.

For the private sector, a national “Toza Business” (“Clean Business”) program is being launched, предусматривающая the creation of a Business Integrity Charter against corruption. Companies that implement anti-corruption standards will be eligible for special labeling and future preferences, the mechanisms for which the Ministry of Economy and Finance is to develop by May 2026. It is expected that at least one thousand entrepreneurs will join the charter.

For civil servants themselves, a chatbot called “Maslahatchi” (“Adviser”) will be created to provide real-time guidance on conflicts of interest and other legal restrictions.

From 1 April 2026, a unified anti-corruption media portal will also begin operating, where artificial intelligence will annually analyze up to 15,000 publications in the media and on social networks, identifying corruption signals and assessing the response of government bodies.

In addition, a “Virtual Anti-Corruption Academy” will be launched, designed to train up to 30,000 officials per year.

The authorities also plan to conduct an inventory of more than 2,000 regulatory and legal acts in order to eliminate inconsistencies and vague wording that create grounds for abuse and bribery.