As reported by gazeta.uz, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov signed on December 3, 2014 the law «On applications of individuals and legal entities.» The document was adopted by the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis on October 29 and approved by the Senate on November 13. The law adopted in place of the Law on Citizens’ Appeals (1994), was published on December 4 in the newspaper Narodnoye Slovo and is considered effective from that day.

The law regulates relations in the sphere of appeals of individuals and legal entities to state bodies and state institutions. It does not apply to appeals, the procedure for consideration of which is established by the legislation on administrative responsibility, civil procedural, criminal procedural, criminal executive, economic procedural and other legislative acts, as well as on mutual correspondence between state bodies and their structural units.

The law guarantees individuals and legal entities the right to apply to state bodies. It is noted that this right is realized voluntarily and no one can be compelled to participate in actions in defense of any appeal or against it. Appeals may be in oral, written or electronic form and may be submitted in the state and other languages. Appeals can be in the form of statements, suggestions and complaints. The application is a request for assistance in the implementation of rights, freedoms and legitimate interests. The proposal is an appeal containing recommendations for improving state and public activities. The complaint is a request for restitution of violated rights, freedoms and protection of legitimate interests. Regardless of their type and form of treatment, they are of equal importance.

Written application must be signed by the individual — the individual or by the signature of the head or authorized person of the applicant — legal entity. In the event that it is not possible to fix a written request of a natural person with the signature of the person applying, it must be signed by the originator with the addition in addition and his surname (name, patronymic). The electronic appeal must be in the form of an electronic document, confirmed by an electronic digital signature and having other details of the electronic document, allowing it to be identified. Electronic treatment must comply with the requirements established by law. Appeals in which the surname (name, patronymic) of the natural person, information about the place of his residence or the full name of the legal entity, information about his whereabouts (postal address) are not indicated or false information about them is indicated, and also not confirmed by the signature (EDS), are considered anonymous. Appeals sent to the media can be used to study and reflect public opinion in accordance with media legislation.

The law details the procedure for accepting individuals and representatives of legal entities in state bodies. A separate chapter of the law is devoted to guarantees of the rights of individuals and legal entities to treatment. In particular, it notes the inadmissibility of discrimination in the use of the right to petitions and provides guarantees of the right to appeal individually or collectively, guarantees the observance of rights, freedoms and legitimate interests in circulation, guarantees acceptance and consideration of applications, guarantees of non-disclosure of information that have become known in connection with appeals, security guarantees for individuals and legal entities in connection with their appeals. The law describes in detail the procedure for filing applications and their consideration, including the time limits for filing applications, the time limits for their consideration, and the cases in which appeals are left without consideration.
The application or complaint under the law is considered within 15 days from the date of receipt to the state body, which is obliged to resolve the matter on the merits, and when additional examination and (or) verification is required, the request for additional documents is required within one month. If necessary, the deadline for consideration may be extended by the head of the relevant state body, but not more than for one month, with a message to the person requesting it. The proposal is considered within a period of up to one month from the date of receipt to the state body, with the exception of those proposals that require additional study, which is reported in writing to the natural or legal person who submitted the proposal within ten days.