Uzbekistan: President signs Decree on priority measures to mitigate the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy
20 March 2020 – On 19 March 2020, President Mirziyoyev signed a Presidential Decree “On priority measures to mitigate the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic and global crisis on sectors of the economy” (“the Decree”).
Under the Decree, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall publish, within three days of the signing of the Decree, an official notification of the occurrence of a force majeure event, which shall last until the restrictions imposed by the Decree are lifted.
Business entities will be able to receive a certificate on the occurrence of the force majeure event from the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade within one day after the publication of the official notification.
It is not completely clear how this will impact the contractual obligations of Uzbek counterparties. We assume that it may be used as a basis to delay fulfilling obligations such as payments under loans without the imposition of penalties or other measures. Nevertheless, parties should review the facts and terms of their agreements to determine the specific requirements necessary to trigger the use of force majeure for the suspension of contractual obligations.
For more information please contact Joel Benjamin, Managing Partner Central Asia, at , and Muborak Kambarova, Counsel, Tashkent, at .