Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Sept. 6
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
Amendments to the law "On Information", governing the work of bloggers entered into force Sept. 5 in Uzbekistan.
Amendments to the law were adopted by the Legislative (lower) Chamber of the Uzbek parliament, and approved by the upper house - the Senate in late August.
In particular, the definition of a blogger notion has been introduced into the law. According to the innovation, the blogger is a person who places the publicly available information of socio-political, socio-economic and other type, including for discussion of information by users on his web sites on the Internet.
New article of the law obliges bloggers to refrain from calling for violent change of the constitutional order and territorial integrity of Uzbekistan, war propaganda, violence and terrorism, as well as the ideas of religious extremism, separatism and fundamentalism.
The prohibition list also includes disclosure of information of state secrets or other secrets protected by law, dissemination of information exciting national, racial, ethnic or religious hatred, defaming the honor and dignity or business reputation of citizens.
Drug propaganda of all kinds and pornography are also prohibited.
Bloggers are required to verify the accuracy of information posted on the websites and immediately delete it if found unreliable.
Failure to perform these duties entails the restriction of access to the website by specifically authorized body, as well as responsibility in accordance with law.