The MPs of the Legislative Chamber at its July 8 session in the first reading conceptually passed the amendments to the Publishing Activity Law.
The amendments were presented by Zukhra Mirgazieva, who said that it had been developed by the Progressive Bloc (UzLiDeP and Milliy Tiklanish) based on the right of legislative initiative.
"In recent years, our country has been consistently implementing measures to reform the publishing sphere, to produce literature that meets legal, spiritual and educational, artistic and aesthetic requirements, as well as to popularize the culture of reading," she stressed.
She added that over the past four years, the number of publishing houses in the country has increased three and a half times - to 601, of which 538 are private. The production capacity of publishing houses has doubled. An average of 11 thousand titles of books with a total circulation of 40 million copies are published annually. The sector has attracted $25 million in direct investment, the parliamentarian said.
In addition, from January 1, 2025, publishing enterprises have been waived from paying income tax for a period of five years.
However, according to Mirgazieva, in connection with “the emergence of new public relations in the publishing activities,” MPs and experts analyzed the implementation of the law. “The findings showed the need to improve some of its provisions,” she said.
The MP emphasized that the law does not define the legal status of the editor-in-chief, does not establish the requirements and standards of his responsibility, which “led to an increase in the number of publications of materials that contradict the law and public morality.”
“This amendments were developed to increase the social responsibility of publishing houses,” Mirgazieva explained.
The amendments have proposed to clearly define the legal status of the editor-in-chief and the requirements for him.
In addition, the editor-in-chief may be empowered — depending on the subject matter of the publications — to independently request expert opinions or reviews from specialists, scientists or research institutions, or to demand that the author provide them.
Thirdly, measures to stimulate reading activity are planned to be enshrined as one of the ways to popularize the culture of reading.
According to Mirgazieva, the amendments were discussed with the MPs and experts, and over the past two weeks it had been revised taking into account their proposals.
The MPs passed the amendments in the first reading without any questions, only one member spoke out against it during the vote. The document could have been adopted in the second and third readings, but the speaker of the lower house of parliament had questions about some of the wording related to the editor-in-chief. As a result, they decided to revise the amendments for the second reading.
