Uzbekistan is set to change how deputy heads of national executive bodies, as well as certain provincial and tax officials, are appointed. The changes are laid out in amendments tied to the constitutional law on the Presidential Administration signed today, August 14.
The key shift is that a number of laws will replace the wording "appointed by the president" or "in coordination with the president" with the broader phrase "in accordance with a procedure determined by the president."
In practice, this means the specific process for appointing and dismissing these officials will no longer be spelled out directly in law. Instead, the president will be able to define that process through a separate act.
Deputy governors of provinces and Tashkent city mayor
Under current law, first deputy and deputy governors of provinces and the city of Tashkent mayor are appointed and dismissed by the relevant governor in coordination with the president, with the decision then submitted for approval to the corresponding provincial council of people's deputies.
Once the amendments take effect, the phrase "in coordination with the president" will be replaced with "in accordance with a procedure determined by the president."
This means the law will no longer require each individual candidate to be directly approved by the president. Instead, the mechanism for their appointment and dismissal will be set out through a procedure established by the head of state.
Heads of tax authorities
Amendments are also being made to the State Tax Service Law.
Currently, deputy chairs of the Tax Committee, as well as the heads of tax departments in Karakalpakstan, the provinces, and Tashkent, are appointed and dismissed directly by the president.
Following the changes, they will instead be appointed and dismissed in accordance with a procedure determined by the president.
As a result, the law will no longer explicitly state that the head of state must personally make this particular personnel decision. Who exactly will hold the authority to appoint and dismiss these officials — whether the president himself or another body he designates — will be defined separately.
Deputy interior minister
A similar change applies to the Police Bodies Law.
Currently, deputy interior ministers are appointed and dismissed directly by the president. Once the new law takes effect, they will instead be appointed and dismissed in accordance with a procedure determined by the president. The provision governing the interior minister's own appointment remains unchanged.
A unified procedure for deputy ministers, and heads of committees, agencies, and inspectorates
More sweeping changes are being made to the Cabinet of Ministers Law.
Under current rules, ministers and their deputies are appointed and dismissed by the president. Heads of other national executive bodies are also appointed by the president, but their deputies are appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers in coordination with the head of state.
Under the amendments, this structure will change. The president will continue to appoint and dismiss the heads of all national executive bodies. Their deputies, however, will be appointed and dismissed in accordance with a procedure determined by the president.
National executive bodies include ministries, committees, agencies, and inspectorates
As a result, the law will drop the direct requirement that deputy ministers be appointed personally by the president, and that deputy heads of committees, agencies, and inspectorates be appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers in coordination with the president. In their place, a single unified formula will apply to all deputies, under which the president determines both the procedure and the appointing authority.
As previously reported, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the constitutional Presidential Administration of the Republic of Uzbekistan Law today, August 14, which for the first time set out in detail the Administration's legal status, responsibilities, and powers.
On why this move matters
The changes carry weight beyond bureaucratic housekeeping. In most governance systems, a deputy is not simply an assistant to the chief executive of an agency — they function as a semi-independent check within it, someone whose career and authority don't flow entirely through the person they answer to day to day. When a deputy is appointed through a separate, more clearly defined channel — rather than being effectively hand-picked by the very official they are meant to help oversee — that structure makes it harder for an agency head to build an unaccountable inner circle, and it preserves a route for irregularities to surface even if the chief would rather they didn't. Collapsing that appointment process into a single, centrally defined procedure removes one of the structural safeguards that has traditionally limited how much power concentrates in one office, and narrows the space for scrutiny from outside the chain of command — a dynamic worth watching as these amendments move from statute into practice.
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