The Senate at the 16th plenary session on June 26 approved amendments to the Bank Secrecy Law and the Investigative Activities Law.

The Chairman of the Senate Defense and Security Committee Qutbidin Burkhanov noted that the purpose of the law is to implement the FATF (Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering) recommendation to prepare for the second stage of the assessment of the national system of Uzbekistan by the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism.

In this regard, the Article 5 of the Bank Secrecy Law is supplemented with the following clause:

The exchange of information constituting bank secrecy between the prosecutor's office, preliminary investigation, inquiry and the bodies carrying out operational-search activities, as well as the competent authorities of foreign states in the manner prescribed by law and international treaties of Uzbekistan shall not be deemed to be a disclosure of banking secrecy.

Qutbidin Burkhanov noted that due to the presence of legal gaps, experts of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism gave an initial assessment of the partial compliance of national legislation with 6 out of 40 FATF recommendations. They also pointed to the incomplete performance by Uzbekistan of the requirements of the UN conventions.

In addition, Article 9 of the law is also being altered (provision of information constituting bank secrecy to the prosecutor's office, preliminary investigation, inquiry, and the bodies carrying out operational-search activities):

Information constituting bank secrecy shall be provided with the authorization of the prosecutor to:

• (paragraph two) the prosecutor's office, preliminary investigation and inquiry on criminal cases in their proceedings in order to establish the circumstances that are relevant to the case, ensure the recovery of damage caused or the seizure of property by a reasoned decision of the investigator or inquiry officer;
• (paragraph three) the bodies carrying out operational-search activities, in the cases of operational-search proceedings in their proceedings in order to carry out the tasks assigned to them on the basis of a reasoned resolution approved by the head of the body carrying out operational-search activities.

In addition, the bodies of the prosecutor's office, preliminary investigation, inquest and bodies carrying out operational-search activities, in criminal cases and cases of operational-search proceedings in their proceedings, will be able to receive information about the presence of bank accounts from the information database of the Central Bank in automated mode.

By amending the Investigative Activities Law, the procedure is established for the use, with the approval of the prosecutor, of information constituting bank secrets by six bodies carrying out operational-search activities.

To take effect, the amendments must be signed by the president.