The key facts

  • Refilling household gas cylinders at motor gas filling stations is now punishable by a fine of 3 to 5 BCUs
  • For unlawful interference in construction — a fine of 100–150 BCUs or arrest of up to 15 days
  • Owners of markets and shopping centers without mandatory fire insurance — a fine of 50–75 BCUs for officials

A new article in the Code of Administrative Liability

On November 2, a law was signed that added a new article to the Code of Administrative Liability — this is reported by Zamon.uz in both the Uzbek-language and Russian-language versions of the publication. The most notable innovation concerns the gas supply sector: the sale of liquefied hydrocarbon gas to consumers in household gas cylinders by motor gas filling stations will now incur a fine of 3 to 5 base calculation units. In other words, motor gas filling stations that in fact performed the function of refilling household cylinders will now be penalized for such activity.

Liability in construction and fire safety

Beyond the gas sector, the law introduces liability for unlawful interference, using official powers, in the tasks of authorized bodies and persons issuing conclusions at the stages of allocating land plots for construction, design, construction, reconstruction, and acceptance of a completed facility into operation. For such actions, a fine of 100 to 150 BCUs or administrative arrest of up to 15 days is provided.

Markets and shopping centers: fire insurance

The third block of innovations concerns the owners of markets, shopping complexes, and shopping and entertainment centers. If they fail to fulfill their obligations regarding civil liability for harm to the life or health of third parties as a result of a fire, as well as mandatory fire insurance of these facilities, officials face a fine of 50 to 75 BCUs. In addition, for violating legislative requirements on conducting a fire audit, the fine is set at 15 BCUs for citizens and 30 BCUs for officials.

What changes in practice

The law combines several heterogeneous provisions in a single article of the Code, but for consumers the most tangible provision should be the one on household cylinders: it enshrines, in the form of an administrative fine, the prohibition for motor gas filling stations to sell liquefied gas directly into consumers' cylinders. The law expresses the amounts of the other fines in base calculation units; exact sums in soums are not given in the publications.