Which rules apply to major-hazard chemical sites in Uzbekistan?

The Law "On industrial safety of hazardous production facilities" (Xavfli ishlab chiqarish obyektlarining sanoat xavfsizligi to'g'risida), No. ZRU-57 of 28 September 2006, and its implementing Cabinet of Ministers (CM) resolutions. Chemical sites must be identified and entered in the state register, use certified equipment, pass industrial safety expertise and keep production control; where hazardous substances reach the threshold quantities of CM Resolution No. 271 of 10 December 2008, an industrial safety declaration with a full accident risk assessment is compulsory.

Short answer

• Scope: sites that use, produce, process, store, transport or destroy flammable, explosive or toxic (hazard class I to III) substances, plus pressure equipment above 0.07 MPa, fixed lifting appliances, molten metals and mining (Law ZRU-57, Art. 4).
• Types: type 1 (high hazard, at or above the threshold quantities), type 2 (below them) and type 3 (other hazard features), set at identification.
• Declaration: compulsory at or above the thresholds; it contains a full risk assessment and is part of the design documentation, approved by the head of the operator and reviewed when data or requirements change (Art. 19).
• Supervisor: the Committee for Industrial, Radiation and Nuclear Safety under the Cabinet of Ministers keeps the register and records declarations and expertise conclusions.
• Emergency duties: emergency plans, contracts with professional rescue services or own rescue teams, financial and material reserves, warning and communication systems, and timely notice of accidents to the authorities and the public (Arts. 9 and 11).
• Insurance: liability for harm to third parties and the environment from an accident at a hazardous production facility must be insured (Art. 20).
• Reform: a new law covering hazardous and "potentially hazardous" facilities was adopted by the Legislative Chamber on 21 April 2026; its signature and entry into force could not be confirmed on 5 November 2026.

Threshold quantities

CM Resolution No. 271 sets single-tier threshold quantities. The tables below show a selection; Table 1 also lists, for example, ammonium nitrate, acrylonitrile, hydrogen fluoride, sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide. Quantities at sites less than 500 metres apart are added, and several substances of the same category are combined with a summation rule.

These figures differ from the two-tier qualifying quantities of the EU Seveso III Directive and Türkiye's major-accident regulation. Seveso III sets 10 and 25 tonnes for chlorine and 50 and 200 tonnes for anhydrous ammonia, so an EU upper-tier site holding 300 tonnes of ammonia stays below the Uzbek 500-tonne declaration threshold, while 300 tonnes of a category 2 or 3 flammable liquid used in a process at ordinary conditions needs a declaration in Uzbekistan but stays below the Seveso lower-tier quantity of 5,000 tonnes for such liquids (category P5c).

Day-to-day duties and liability

The operator must keep qualified and medically fit staff, train and certify them in industrial safety, keep monitoring systems working, carry out diagnostics and expertise of equipment and buildings on time, prevent unauthorised entry, suspend operation after an accident or incident and analyse incidents (Law ZRU-57, Art. 9). Production control follows the regulation in Annex 2 to CM Resolution No. 291 of 19 May 2020, and services such as registration and declaration records were updated by CM Resolution No. 325 of 25 June 2026. Breaches at supervised facilities are fined under Art. 97 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility, and accidents at work on such sites are also notified to the committee's territorial body within one day under the 2026 accident regulation.

The 2026 rules on handling highly flammable and explosive chemicals (CM Resolution No. 326) add detailed storage, segregation, ventilation and safety data sheet requirements for chemical sites.

Common mistakes

• Applying Seveso thresholds. Uzbekistan uses its own single-tier table and summation rule.
• Treating the declaration as a one-off. It must be updated when the data in it or the requirements change, and when applying for a licence.
• Ignoring neighbouring sites. Quantities at facilities closer than 500 metres are added together.

Related on excodex

• Occupational safety and health in Uzbekistan: law, authorities and employer duties
• How are explosive atmospheres and Ex equipment regulated in Uzbekistan?
• Seveso III: major-accident prevention, tiers and duties
• BEKRA major industrial accidents regulation in Türkiye

Standards and further reading

• Law No. ZRU-57 of 28 September 2006 "On industrial safety of hazardous production facilities": https://lex.uz/ru/docs/1061184
• CM Resolution No. 271 of 10 December 2008 (identification of hazardous production facilities, threshold quantities, industrial safety declaration, expertise): https://lex.uz/ru/docs/1413933
• CM Resolution No. 325 of 25 June 2026 on industrial safety services and digitalisation: https://lex.uz/docs/8288407
• CM Resolution No. 326 of 25 June 2026 (in force 27 September 2026), rules on handling highly flammable and explosive chemicals: https://lex.uz/docs/8288643
• Seveso III Directive 2012/18/EU, Annex I Part 2 (named substances): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2012/18/annex/I
• Code of Administrative Responsibility, Art. 97: https://lex.uz/docs/97664
• Resolution of the Legislative Chamber No. 1978-V of 21 April 2026 on the Law on industrial safety of hazardous and potentially hazardous facilities: https://lex.uz/ru/docs/8200039

This article is general occupational safety and health information prepared by the excodex editorial team. It does not replace the applicable legislation, standards, manufacturers' instructions or the assessment of a competent OSH professional or occupational physician.