AI Regulation Tracker / Central Asia
Uzbekistan's Decree PF-141 writes AI into the Digital Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy and orders drafting of ethics rules
The decree is binding law and it took effect on July 25, 2026. What it binds is the Uzbek state, not the AI industry. It names AI a priority direction of national digital strategy and orders officials to draft ethics rules, state standards and a normative-legal base.
What did PF-141 actually change?
Two categories of change.
The first is a text amendment. PF-141 inserts a new paragraph 2.6 into Appendix 1 of the Digital Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy, approved by Decree PF-6079. It gives artificial intelligence a named home in the country's master digital plan, under a heading shared with space research. The operative Uzbek text reads:
«2.6. Сунъий интеллект технологиялари ва космик тадқиқотлар соҳасини ривожлантиришнинг устувор йўналишлари … сунъий интеллект технологияларини ривожлантиришга қаратилган норматив-ҳуқуқий базани шакллантириш, соҳада стандартларни такомиллаштириш ва халқаро ҳамкорлик алоқаларини мустаҳкамлаш; … сунъий интеллект технологиялари бўйича этика қоидаларини ишлаб чиқиш; соҳадаги давлат стандартлари ва норматив-ҳуқуқий ҳужжат лойиҳаларини ишлаб чиқиш; сунъий интеллект технологиялари соҳасидаги институционал асосларни шакллантириш;Decree PF-141, Appendix, new paragraph 2.6 of Appendix 1 to the Digital Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy
In English: "2.6. Priority directions for developing artificial intelligence technologies and the space research field ... formation of a normative-legal base aimed at developing artificial intelligence technologies, improvement of standards in the field and strengthening of international cooperation ties; ... development of ethics rules for artificial intelligence technologies; development of draft state standards and normative-legal acts in the field; formation of institutional foundations in the field of artificial intelligence technologies;"
Every item on that list describes a drafting or institution-building task. Form a legal base. Improve standards. Develop ethics rules. Draft state standards. Nothing tells a company what to do with a model.
The second change is institutional. PF-141 rewrites the target-indicator appendix of the AI-to-2030 Strategy with quarterly-reported figures and adds Chapters 4 and 5 on monitoring and evaluation. The numbers are concrete: 200 sectoral AI projects, 250 AI residents in IT-Park, top-50 in the Government AI Readiness Index, 3,000 trained AI specialists.
Does the decree bind private AI developers?
No. That distinction is the article's central point.
A decree that mandates the drafting of ethics rules is not a set of ethics rules. It is an instruction to write them. The duty created by paragraph 2.6 runs to the state bodies that must produce the instruments, not to the firms that will one day be measured against them. There is no scope article aimed at providers, no risk classification, no registration, no penalty, no conformity assessment, no date by which a private party must do anything.
That is not a criticism. It is what a strategy amendment is for. It is also where English-language coverage of Central Asia goes wrong, because a binding decree about AI ethics reads, in summary, like an AI ethics law.
Who has to deliver, and on what clock?
The new chapters put a name and a cadence on delivery. A working group chaired by the First Deputy Minister of Digital Technologies sits at the centre, reporting is quarterly, and the Cabinet of Ministers department for AI and digital technologies development may propose disciplinary measures, up to dismissal, against deputy heads for digitalisation.
Those deputies sit in all state bodies and in companies where the state holds 50 percent or more of the capital. That second category matters to a foreign partner: a majority state-capital joint venture now contains an official whose job security tracks quarterly AI delivery numbers.
Oversight here is personnel oversight. No fine, no injunction, no regulator writing to a vendor. Pressure lands on civil servants, which is intended to keep drafting work on schedule.
How does this sit with the AI ethics rules already in force?
Separate Uzbek AI ethical rules are reported as effective June 17, 2026, barring certain decisions from resting solely on AI output. Their full detail is outside the scope of this PF-141 analysis.
If any AI ethics instruments predate PF-141, they cannot have been formally commissioned by this decree, and the passage quoted above does not identify any such rules by number.
The better reading is that ethics work remains on the priority list because it is not finished. AI state standards, an institutional framework and a broader normative base are separate deliverables, and paragraph 2.6 keeps them live.
How does PF-141 sit on a compliance map?
What matters for a compliance map is whether an instrument reaches private actors at all.
| Instrument | Type | Binds private actors | Date and status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uzbekistan, Decree PF-141 | Presidential decree amending national strategy | No. Duties fall on state bodies and majority state-capital companies | In force July 25, 2026. Quarterly reporting, no industry deadline |
In Uzbekistan, AI-related work currently proceeds primarily through presidential decrees and implementing acts, rather than through a standalone statute.
What an international company should do with this
Start with verification of any existing Uzbek AI rules, whose scope is not settled by this decree and is not described here.
Then use PF-141 as a forecast. AI state standards and further normative acts are being drafted, the work sits with the Ministry of Digital Technologies and its working group, and progress is reported quarterly. That cadence predicts when drafts appear better than any press statement does.
If you sell into a state body or a majority state-owned company, expect a counterparty on its own clock. Its digitalisation deputy reports quarterly against project counts and training numbers. That creates procurement appetite, and a buyer who needs the deployment to be countable.
What PF-141 does not do
No licensing or registration regime for AI systems. No fines. No risk classification, and no regulator given supervisory power over model providers. No date by which a private developer must comply with anything, because it asks nothing of them.
Frequently asked questions
Does Uzbek Decree PF-141 regulate artificial intelligence?
PF-141 is binding, but its AI content is planning content. It inserts paragraph 2.6 into the Digital Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy and instructs state bodies to develop AI ethics rules, draft state standards and a normative-legal base. It sets no obligation on private AI developers, no penalty and no industry deadline.
When did PF-141 take effect?
The decree is dated Tashkent, 24 July 2026 and numbered PF-141. The entry-into-force field on the official lex.uz text reads 25 July 2026.
Does PF-141 mean Uzbekistan has no binding AI rules today?
PF-141 itself does not impose AI-specific obligations on private parties. Other Uzbek instruments may address AI or automated decision-making directly, but they are not described in this note.
What does the quarterly control mechanism in PF-141 do?
New Chapters 4 and 5 create a coordinating working group chaired by the First Deputy Minister of Digital Technologies and quarterly reporting. The Cabinet department for AI and digital technologies development may propose disciplinary measures, up to dismissal, against digitalisation deputies at state bodies and at companies with 50 percent or more state capital.
Last verified: July 28, 2026