On May 12 this year, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investment headed and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan S. Umurzakov headed the regular meeting of the Council on Tariff and Non-Tariff Regulation of Foreign Trade.­­­

The meeting considered a Road Map providing for the revision of excise tax rates and the use of non-tariff regulation of foreign trade considering generally accepted standards and rules of international trade, including the WTO agreements. These measures will minimize negative impact of changes in excise policy on certain economic sectors. The measures provided for in the Road Map will focus on Uzbekistan's implementation of obligations assumed under international agreements.

Based on the domestic and foreign markets' in-progress analysis, the participants decided to create a Working Group, which will develop promising proposals to optimize customs privileges when selling certain categories of goods.

Besides, during the meeting, there was an incisive analysis of work to improve operation of the Council. This resulted in specific decisions providing improvement of operation of this authority, ensuring prompt response to the dynamics of market processes and timely adoption of appropriate measures within tariff and non-tariff regulation of foreign trade.

For reference: The Council on Tariff and Non-Tariff Regulation of Foreign Trade was established according to the Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated January 28, 2019 No. PP-4135 on Organization of Operation of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The main goals of the Council are:

- the study of international experience and the development of proposals on the customs duty rates and the application of non-tariff regulation measures for foreign trade;

- based on the current situation in the domestic and foreign markets, development of proposals for further improvement of tariff and non-tariff regulation system, as well as participation in making proposals to change and amend existing system of privileges for customs payments;

- proposing on improvement of the Commodity Nomenclature of Foreign Economic Activity of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Rules for Goods Classification.