Private Camera Operators Gain a New Enforcement Role
Uzbekistan will allow traffic cameras installed by entrepreneurs to record drivers breaking seat belt rules from November 1, 2026. The equipment must produce photographs showing the driver's face and whether a seat belt is being worn, automatically transmit details of the incident and keep working for at least eight hours during a power outage.
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The change is set out in Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 596 of October 29, 2026, announced by the Ministry of Justice. It amends Resolution No. 232 of April 21, 2021, which governs specialised automated systems used to record traffic violations.
For drivers, the practical change is an expansion in which systems can detect an existing offence. Automated cameras began recording drivers without seat belts in October 2023. The November measure extends that role to qualifying equipment installed by private businesses.
The permission concerns specialised systems for recording traffic offences. Their images and associated data must meet technical requirements before they enter the administrative process. The resolution does not identify particular cities or stretches of road where the equipment will be used.
The measure also brings renewed attention to a gap in Uzbekistan's seat belt rules. Drivers and passengers in front seats have been required to buckle up before a vehicle moves since May 2022, yet legislation still provides no fine for passengers who fail to do so. Rear seat belts and specified child restraints remain recommended rather than compulsory.
What Changes on November 1?
Resolution No. 596 expands the violations that automated systems installed by entrepreneurs may record. Its wording covers drivers' compliance with seat belt rules when driving and transporting passengers.
The person whose face and belt position must be visible in the photograph is the driver. That requirement puts the driver's conduct at the centre of the new camera permission, while the separate legal position of passengers remains unchanged.
The dates show how the expansion fits into a sequence of earlier changes:
- April 21, 2021: The Cabinet of Ministers adopted Resolution No. 232, the document amended by the latest measure.
- May 2022: Traffic rules requiring drivers and passengers in front seats to fasten their belts before movement took effect.
- October 2023: Automated systems began recording drivers who were not wearing seat belts.
- October 29, 2026: Resolution No. 596 introduced the changes allowing qualifying private systems to record these violations.
- November 1, 2026: The new permission takes effect.
The expansion therefore comes roughly three years after automated detection of unbelted drivers began. Businesses operating qualifying traffic cameras will gain another type of violation they can record, alongside the technical duties that accompany it.
What Must the Photograph Show?
A photograph must be clear enough to distinguish the driver's face and establish whether the driver was using a seat belt. Both details are required in the photographic evidence.
A picture that shows a vehicle passing a camera is only part of the task. For this category of violation, the equipment must capture the person driving and make the position of the belt visible. Image quality is therefore a requirement of the recording procedure itself.
The requirement matters because the alleged offence concerns something happening inside the vehicle. The camera system needs a sufficiently detailed view of the driver, rather than simply a record of where the car was at a particular moment.
The rules place this obligation on the equipment used by entrepreneurs. Private operators seeking to record seat belt violations must use systems capable of producing the required images as well as transmitting the accompanying information.
What Information Travels With Each Image?
Each system must automatically send information about a detected violation to the Administrative Practice module, known in Uzbek as Ma'muriy amaliyot. This is the administrative system designated to receive the records.
The required information includes the date and time of the violation, the precise coordinates of its location, and the number and validity period of the equipment's metrological verification certificate.
Metrological verification is a formal check of measuring equipment against applicable standards. The certificate identifies the device's verification record, while its validity period states how long that verification remains current.
Sending those details with the incident gives the administrative record information about both the alleged violation and the equipment used to capture it. The date, time and coordinates describe when and where the event occurred. The certificate details identify the device's verification status.
Automatic transmission is also an express requirement. The system must be capable of passing the specified information into the Administrative Practice module, making data transfer part of the technical conditions for recording seat belt offences.
Eight Hours of Backup Power Required
Private camera systems used for this purpose must have a reserve power supply capable of keeping them operating for at least eight hours if the electricity supply fails. The same minimum applies to cameras operated by the road safety authorities.
An eight hour minimum means that a short power interruption should not immediately end a qualifying system's operation. Operators must account for continued service during an outage when equipping their installations.
The power requirement sits alongside the standards for image quality, equipment verification and automatic data transmission. Together, these conditions define what the camera installation must be able to do: capture a clear incident, attach the required details and continue operating through a substantial interruption to mains electricity.
Drivers and Passengers Face Different Rules
Uzbekistan's traffic rules have required both drivers and passengers in front seats to buckle up before a vehicle begins moving since May 2022. By November 2026, that requirement will have been in force for about four and a half years.
Legislation still contains no fine for passengers who fail to wear a seat belt. A legal duty and a financial penalty are separate parts of enforcement: the traffic rules can require an action while the penalty legislation leaves a particular person's breach without a specified fine.
The November camera change concerns the detection of violations by drivers. It leaves the existing passenger penalty gap in place.
People sitting in rear seats are covered by a different approach. Wearing a seat belt there remains a recommendation. Special child seats for children younger than seven, and suitable restraint devices for children aged seven to 12, are also recommended rather than compulsory.
Families therefore face different legal rules depending on the seat occupied and the child's age. The camera expansion adds a means of recording a driver's failure to wear a belt, while those passenger and child restraint provisions continue as before.
Medical Exemptions Have Their Own Documentation
The Ministry of Health has approved medical grounds for exemption from the obligation to wear a seat belt. These include specified injuries, serious illnesses and physical conditions.
The list includes fractures involving the shoulder girdle, ribs, collarbone or breastbone; a compression fracture of a vertebra; stage IV bronchial asthma; grade III or decompensated chronic heart failure; and severe cardiovascular disease, including a previous heart attack or ischaemia. Ischaemia means that part of the body receives too little blood.
Other listed grounds include severe obesity with a body mass index of 40 or more, removal of a lung or part of a lung, dwarfism with a height below 150 centimetres, and neurological conditions that restrict movement of an arm or shoulder. Body mass index is a measure calculated from a person's weight and height.
Certificates for most medical grounds are valid for up to one year. Certificates issued for dwarfism or lung removal have no expiry date. Drivers can upload a medical exemption certificate through the Unified Portal of Interactive Public Services.
The certificate process is relevant to drivers who qualify for an exemption as automated enforcement expands. Most certificates have a limited duration, so their validity is a separate matter from the continuing presence of a medical condition.
Key Points
- From November 1, 2026, qualifying traffic cameras installed by entrepreneurs may record drivers breaking seat belt rules.
- Resolution No. 596 of October 29, 2026, amends Resolution No. 232 of April 21, 2021.
- Photographs must clearly show the driver's face and whether a seat belt is being used.
- Systems must automatically transmit the incident's date, time and location, plus equipment verification certificate details.
- Backup electricity must keep the equipment operating for at least eight hours.
- Passengers in front seats must wear belts, but legislation still provides no fine for passengers who fail to do so.
- Rear seat belts and specified child restraints remain recommended; documented medical exemptions are available for listed conditions.
