Proposals for the development of the field of intellectual property, archival affairs and legal education were presented

On November 21, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed the presentation of proposals for reforming the areas of intellectual property, archival affairs and legal education.

In recent years, large-scale work has been carried out in the field of intellectual property. 51 regulatory documents have been adopted, Uzbekistan has acceded to 8 international treaties. The protection of intellectual property has been strengthened - administrative penalties have been tightened and criminal liability has been introduced for offenses in this area. In the customs sphere, an “ex officio” procedure has been introduced, a procedure for the destruction of counterfeit products has been introduced, and a Month without Counterfeiting is held annually.

The number of intellectual property objects has exceeded 102 thousand, the protection of both local brands abroad and foreign brands in the market of Uzbekistan has been expanded. 23 geographical indications have been registered, including Samarkand bread, Chust knives, Margilan adras.

As a result of the work carried out, our country rose by 14 positions and took 79th place in the Global Innovation Index.

Plans for further development of the sphere were discussed at the presentation. In particular, with the World Intellectual Property Organization it is planned to develop a National Strategy for the Development of the Intellectual Property Sphere.

According to the plans, the procedure for amending patents and certificates will be simplified, and 5 composite and 4 proactive services will be introduced.

In addition, the state of use of intellectual property will be taken into account in the Sustainability Rating of Business Entities.

It is planned to open centers for promoting patenting, production implementation and commercialization in all higher education institutions and research institutions. At the National University, and then at four more universities, it is planned to create a direction “Management of Intellectual Property Objects.”

To stimulate authors and specialists, it is proposed to hold an annual competition “The Best Objects of Intellectual Property” in 5 nominations. A special badge “For contribution to the development of the field of intellectual property” will be established, which will be awarded on April 26 - International Intellectual Property Day.

The importance of strengthening the system of national geographical indications was noted. The importance of registering about seventy geographical indications, increasing the value and export potential of national brands through and joining the Lisbon system was emphasized.

During the discussion of issues of modernization of archival affairs, it was noted that today 16 million items of storage are stored in domestic archives, including 1.3 million particularly valuable and rare documents. The archives of the Kushbegi Office of the Bukhara Emir and the Office of the Khiva Khanate are included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

However, the rate of digitization of documents is only 2 percent per year. It was noted that by 2030 it is necessary to increase the level of digitization of the archival fund to 60 percent, and to digitize especially valuable and rare documents completely.

To achieve this, it is planned to integrate industry information systems into the Unified National Information System of Archives, introduce a system for recording and online tracking of documents using radio frequency identification technology (RFID), as well as use artificial intelligence technologies in processes classification and recognition of documents. The functions of district (city) archives will be transferred to regional archives departments.

It was also proposed to create the Shazhara information system. The new service will allow users to create their own family tree, search for information about birth, marriage and death, as well as distant relatives based on genetic data.

Issues of further reforming legal education and science are considered.

The Tashkent State Law University plans to introduce clinical and dual education. The share of practice in student training will be increased to 50 percent, and legal clinics will be created in the areas of civil, criminal and business law. Based on the modern requirements of the field, new educational directions “Digital Law” and “Corporate Law and Management” will be opened.

At the same time, it is proposed to update the organizational structure of faculties according to the principle of “education - research - practice” with a gradual transformation of departments into departments, as well as to create a Council of University Professors.

During the presentation, special attention is paid to eliminating gaps in legislation and reducing the regulatory burden.

As part of this work, it is planned to cancel about 800 regulatory documents that have lost their significance and relevance, revise 77 documents, reduce more than 15 excessive requirements for entrepreneurs, making it easier to do business. By assessing the effectiveness of laws, conflict of laws rules and legal gaps will be consistently eliminated.

The President emphasized the need for systematic implementation of the presented initiatives, as well as further increasing efficiency, convenience for the population and entrepreneurs in the areas considered.