A new procedure is being introduced in Uzbekistan for conducting repeated inspections of commercial entities: now, prior approval from the Business Ombudsman is required to conduct a repeat inspection of the same company within one year.
This change was announced during the sixth open dialogue of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev with representatives of the business community, which took place in Khorezm.
The authorized person for protecting entrepreneurs' rights has experience in assessing the legality of supervisory bodies' actions. For instance, in 2019, out of 1035 requests from tax authorities for inspections, 391 were rejected due to insufficient justification. In 2020, 978 of 2336 similar appeals did not receive approval.
The need to strengthen the protection system is confirmed by the results of a recent study. The analysis showed that more than half of the five thousand studied entrepreneurs were subjected to tax inspections two or three times annually, and 21 percent of companies underwent more than four inspections, excluding repeat inspections from other regulatory bodies.
Representatives of the Business Ombudsman's office emphasized that the ombudsman's mission is not to hinder legitimate control, but to assess the expediency and legality of each repeat inspection in order to protect businesses from unjustified administrative pressure.