Uzbekistan's Ministry of Justice has developed a new draft law, "On the state registration of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs," aimed at simplifying the registration process.

The bill would unify the more than 40 rules and regulations governing registration in order to remove many of the bureaucratic barriers.

It would consolidate the branches and representative offices to which legal entities are required to submit the relevant documents. Each applicant would provide a unique user name and password and receive a certificate of registration.

The bill also provides for the state registration of individual entrepreneurs and small farmers and regulates the ability of officials to refuse to register anyone.

Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the government of Uzbekistan has stated that it is committed to a gradual transition to a market-based economy. The pace of economic reforms has been slow, but the country has shown considerable progress.