International Standards

Uzbekistan is a landlocked, Central Asian nation that shares borders with Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Although relatively well-diversified, exports are comprised mainly of natural resources and low value added goods including cotton, vehicles, copper, petroleum gases, fruits, uranium, fertilizers, and apparel. Moreover, exports are heavily concentrated and the majority of goods are destined for Russia, China, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. The country aims to protect the local market and motivate the manufacturers to produce different kinds of products for international export. In such a way, the country elaborated a number of trade standards which have to be respected by every importer or exporter.

Uzbekistan continues to use an arbitrary set of technical standards based on outdated Soviet methods.  There are more than 65,000 normative documents regulating national standards.  Standards for imported goods are subject to state registration through branches of Uzstandart, the Uzbek Agency for Standardization, Metrology and Certification. 

Uzbekistan participates in the following international and regional organizations:

- International Organization for Standardization (ISO) - as a full member;

- International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) - as an associate member;

- Interstate Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification (EASC) of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS);

- Interregional Association for Standardization;

- Euro-Asian Cooperation of National Metrological Institutions (COOMET) - as a full member.

The Uzbekistan Agency for Standardization, Metrology and Certification is responsible for certification and standardization policy. Industry standards are developed by industry regulating agencies. According to Uzbek legislation the following standard normative documents are applied in the country:

- International (interstate, regional) standards;

- Uzbek national standards;

- Industrial standards;

- Technical specifications;

- Standards of the enterprise;

- National standards of foreign countries; and

- Administrative-territorial standards. 

PRODUCT CERTIFICATION

The list of imports subject to obligatory certification includes foodstuffs, alcohol and soft drinks, tobacco, minerals, metal products, fuels, crude oil and oil refinery products, fertilizers, perfumes, cosmetics and toiletries, poisons, plastics, rubber products, wooden products, paper products, textile products, certain types of clothing, reactors, boilers, equipment for transportation (other than railway), electronics, and toys. 

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

While importing or exporting different kinds of products, every seller, manufacturer or buyer has to prepare a wide range of documents in order to make the trade business legal on the territory of Uzbekistan. These documents are the following:

- Trade Contract;

- Certificate of conformity for certain products, the list of which is defined by the Cabinet of Ministers;

- Certificate of origin;

- Certificate on registration of the contract with MFERIT and/or contract with the seal indicating registration with an authorized bank;

- Passport of an import deal (a document describing a contract on import and its terms, signed by the importer, a bank, and a customs officer);

- Certificate of the availability of funds in either foreign or domestic currency that would have no liabilities or a guarantee of an authorized bank, according to the established form, which confirms an importer’s ability to pay for a contract;

- Cargo customs declaration;

- Commercial invoice;

- Phyto-sanitary and veterinary certificates (as applicable);

- License (as applicable);

- Permission from authorized banks (as applicable).

LABELING REQUIREMENTS

Before importing of exporting FMCG and agricultural products, the seller has to present the labeling declaration with a number of requirenments, such as: 

1) All the information about the product has to be printed on a label securely affixed to the package or printed on the package itself;

2) All lables on the package have to be printed only in Uzbek language;

3) All the products with only one standard EU or the USA label are not allowed to be placed on the market;

4) All products with false, misleading or deceprive representation are not allowed to be placed on the market;

5) The content on the label has to be clear, prominent, indelible, and readily legible by the consumer.

The governance is sceptic about pre-packaged food. That is why, they have elaborated a number of items which have to be presented on the label before the products' export or import. These are:

1) The name of the food (the name of food shall include trade name or description of food contained in the package);

2) List of ingredients, except for single ingredient foods (the list shall be declared on the label, in descending order of their composition by weight or volume);  

3) Nutritional information (all nutritional facts per 100 gram or 100 ml);

4) Declaration regarding vegetarian and non vegetarian (vegetarian food must have a symbol consisting of green color-filled circle inside a square with a green outline prominently displayed on the package; non-vegitarian must have a symbol of a brown color-filled circle inside a square with a brown outline prominently displayed on the package);

5) Declaration of food additives;

6) Name and address of the manufacturer (the label shall carry the name and complete address of the manufacturing or packing or bottling unit and also the name and complete address of the manufacturer or the company for and whose behalf it is manufactured or packed or bottled);

7) Net quantity (by weight or volume or number, shall be declared on every package of food);

8) Lot/code/batch identification (a mark of identification by which the food can be traced in the manufacture and identify in the distribution shall be given on the label);

9) Date of manufacture or packing (the date, month and year in which the commodity is manufactured, packed or pre-packed, shall be given on the label);

10) Best before date or use by date or date of expiry (the month and year in capital letters up to which the product is best for consumption);

11) Country of origin;

12) Instructions for use, if applicable (if necessary, shall be included on the label to ensure correct utilization of the food).

Raw agricultural commodities, spice mixes, condiments, non-nutritive products, alcoholic beverages, fruits and vegetables, processed pre-packaged vegetables and fruits are exempted from nutritional labeling requirements. 

CONTACTS

Ministry for Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade

Republic of Uzbekistan

Tel: (998)  +71 238-5100

Fax: (998) +71 238-5200

E-mail: Secretary@mfer.uz 

Website: www.mfer.uz 

State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Address: 13A, Abdulla Kadiriy St., Tashkent 100011

Telephone: (998) +71 244-98-98

Fax: (998) +71 244-89-12

Email: solik@dostlink.net