Uzbekistan

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-07

Uzbekistan's Law No. ZRU-444 "On the protection of children from information harmful to their health" (8 September 2017, in force 10 March 2018) requires the producer or distributor of an information product, defined to include material distributed using software or placed on the worldwide information network Internet, to self-classify it, if necessary with expert help, before its circulation begins in Uzbekistan, assigning one of five age categories from "0+" to "18+" (Art. 17).

Article 16 separately identifies a category of content barred from distribution to children outright, including material of a pornographic character, regardless of any age-category marking, and a narrower category restricted by age rather than barred outright.

Articles 18 and 19 direct the Cabinet of Ministers to set the administrative, organizational, hardware and software measures for protecting children from harmful information, bar circulating such information in public places without those measures, require printed material carrying it to be sold only in sealed packaging, and bar its distribution in institutions intended for children.

Article 24, the Act's only enforcement provision, states liability in general terms without a penalty schedule or a named enforcing authority. No dedicated app-store age-verification statute or standalone social-media minor-access statute has been located.

Instruments on record

Law on Protection of Children from Harmful Information, age classification and circulation requirements

In force

Law No. ZRU-444 (8 September 2017), Arts. 4, 17-19

Effective 2018-03-10 · Applies to both

Article 4 defines an information product to include material distributed using software or placed in telecommunications networks, including the worldwide information network Internet, so an online service reached by children is covered on the same footing as printed, audiovisual or broadcast media.

Article 17 requires the producer or distributor to determine an information product's age classification, if necessary with expert help, before its circulation begins in Uzbekistan, assigning it one of five categories marked "0+", "7+", "12+", "16+" or "18+" based on its theme, genre, content and artistic design, how a child of the relevant age is likely to perceive it, and the likelihood of harm to a child's health.

Articles 18 and 19 direct the Cabinet of Ministers to set the administrative, organizational, hardware and software measures for protecting children from harmful information, bar its circulation in public places without those measures, require printed material carrying it to be sold only in sealed packaging, and bar its distribution in institutions intended for children.

Age threshold	18
Verification methods	self declaration

Source: Full text of law

Law on Protection of Children from Harmful Information, prohibition on distributing content harmful to children

In force

Law No. ZRU-444 (8 September 2017), Art. 16

Effective 2018-03-10 · Applies to both

Article 16 defines information harmful to children's health as an information product barred from distribution to children altogether, or one whose distribution to children of certain age categories is restricted.

The categories barred outright include material inciting self-harm or suicide, material capable of inducing children to use alcohol, tobacco, narcotic or psychotropic substances, gamble, engage in prostitution, vagrancy or begging, material justifying violence and cruelty, material denying family values or fostering disrespect toward parents, obscene language, and material of a pornographic character, alongside identifying information about a child victim of an unlawful act.

A second, narrower category restricted by age rather than barred outright covers depictions of cruelty or antisocial acts, material inducing fear or panic, and depictions of sexual relations between a man and a woman, which fall under Article 17's age-tiered classification instead.

Source: Full text of law