Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- At the forty-seventh plenary meeting of the Senate, senators discussed the Law “On amendments and additions to the Criminal, Criminal Procedure Codes of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Administrative Liability.”

It was noted that cases of blocking accounts or channels on mobile devices, as well as on social networks and instant messengers, by sending malware, threatening to delete, change or seize data and demanding money or other material benefits from individuals, have become more frequent.

There are also cases of falsification of photographs, voices and other biometric data of persons using special programs.

Therefore, a change is being made to the concept of extortion in the Criminal Code (Article 165) and liability is established for an offense related to information discrediting the victim.

In addition, there are increasingly cases of copying or blocking other people’s IMEI codes for a fee on mobile devices that are imported from abroad.

It has now been determined that there are 5,011 SIM cards registered under one IMEI code and 2,347 SIM cards registered under another IMEI code.

The legislation does not provide for the application of any legal measures against persons who committed such actions.

Therefore, in order to eliminate these gaps in the legislation, administrative liability is introduced into the Code of Administrative Liability for illegally changing the international unique identification code of a mobile device or the identification module of a subscriber device.

At the same time, the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Responsibility provide for corresponding liability for violation of legislation in the field of circulation of crypto-assets and illegal carrying out mining activities.

The senators noted that persons involved in the illegal trafficking of crypto-assets and mining who voluntarily reported this crime and contributed to its disclosure are exempt from criminal liability.

The adoption of this Law will make it possible in the future to fully devote all efforts and resources to uncovering and combating crimes committed using information technologies, as well as to establish a clear standard of responsibility for violating legislation in the field of circulation of crypto-assets and carrying out illegal mining.

The law was approved by senators.