Metal Detecting Laws in Uzbekistan

A general permission or ban for hobby metal detecting in Uzbekistan could not be confirmed. Archaeological research has its own institutional and permit requirements, and hobby detecting is prohibited in strict state nature reserves and nature parks’ reserve zones. Elsewhere, access to land does not settle permission to detect or dig. The rules below distinguish ordinary lost property, treasure and archaeological finds.

The rules, land by land

Even where detecting is allowed, archaeological and historic sites are protected, and you must fill every hole and follow posted rules. Always confirm the current rule with the land manager.

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Archaeological research and protected heritage

Under Об охране и использовании объектов археологического наследия (Protection and use of archaeological heritage), archaeological surveys, excavations and supervision are restricted to state institutions and organizations whose founding documents provide for that work. The archaeologist must lead it directly and hold both an open certificate and a permit. Oʻzbekiston Respublikasi Madaniy meros agentligi (Cultural Heritage Agency of the Republic of Uzbekistan) issues these authorizations under its regulation, paragraph 16(a). The open certificate expires at the end of the calendar year.

These archaeological-research requirements do not establish a nationwide hobby-detector rule or settle every recovery hole for a modern lost item. Special equipment at archaeological sites requires separate authorization, but the cited provisions do not expressly identify hobby metal detectors.

For material cultural heritage properties and adjoining territory, owners must obtain Cultural Heritage Agency permission for earthworks under Маданий мерос объектларини муҳофаза қилиш ва улардан фойдаланиш тўғрисида (Protection and use of cultural heritage), article 24. Digging to recover a target falls under that earthworks requirement; the provision does not expressly regulate sweeping a detector. Archaeological research also has the additional requirements above.

Parks, forests, shores and private land

Об охраняемых природных территориях (Protected natural territories), articles 19 and 25, prohibits hobby detecting in strict state nature reserves and nature parks’ reserve zones. Strict reserves allow scientific research, environmental monitoring and permitted fire-prevention measures. Entry permission does not authorize hobby detecting. Other park zones have their own regimes; a general detecting rule for recreational zones and other areas outside strict reserves could not be confirmed.

A general hobby-detecting rule for state forests could not be confirmed. Permission to visit or gather specified plants under О лесе (Forests) is not express permission to detect. Article 51 requires forestry coordination for listed construction, mining, drilling and other non-forestry work, but its application to small hobby recovery holes is unresolved. Forest-use restrictions and duties to avoid damage still apply.

Uzbekistan is landlocked, so beach questions concern inland shores. A detecting rule for these places could not be confirmed: Водный кодекс Республики Узбекистан (Water Code), articles 92 and 112, addresses recreational water use and work changing beds or banks without expressly settling detector sweeping or small recovery holes. Heritage restrictions still apply beside water.

A general hobby-detecting rule for private land also could not be confirmed. The property owner’s consent matters to treasure ownership and rewards, but does not itself authorize detecting. Private ownership does not remove archaeological or heritage-earthworks requirements. Земельный кодекс Республики Узбекистан (Land Code) and Об охране почв и повышении их плодородия (Soil protection and fertility) impose additional duties without establishing a complete hobby-recovery rule.

Lost property: return, report and ownership

Гражданский кодекс Республики Узбекистан, часть первая (Civil Code, Part One), article 192, requires you to notify a known person entitled to a lost item immediately and return it. If that person or their whereabouts is unknown, report the find to an internal-affairs body, the appropriate state body or a citizens’ self-government body. The article gives no numerical deadline for that separate report. An item found in premises or a vehicle must go to the person representing the holder of those premises or that vehicle; the recipient takes on the finder’s rights and duties.

Under article 193, a finder acquires ordinary lost property after six months from reporting it to an internal-affairs body or the appropriate state body, provided the entitled person remains unidentified and has not asserted their right to the finder or any of the bodies named in that article, including a citizens’ self-government body. Article 192 allows custody with the finder or deposit with a named body or its designated person before ownership passes. Custody is not ownership. If the finder declines ownership, the item becomes state property; archaeological material remains subject to its separate state-ownership rule.

Treasure and the heritage exception

Civil Code article 196 defines treasure as buried or otherwise hidden money or valuables whose owner cannot be identified or has legally lost their rights. Ordinary treasure belongs equally to the finder and the owner of the property where it was hidden, unless they agree otherwise. A finder who searched or excavated without that owner’s consent must give the treasure to the owner.

Material cultural heritage items within treasure must be transferred to state ownership. The property owner and finder together have a right to a reward of 50 percent of the treasure’s value, shared equally unless they agree otherwise. If the search lacked the property owner’s consent, the finder gets no reward and the entire reward goes to the owner. Article 196 excludes people whose employment or official duties included excavation and search for treasure. None of these ownership or reward rules establishes permission to search.

Archaeological finds: handover and research deadlines

Archaeological heritage belongs to the state under articles 3, 4 and 16 of the archaeological heritage law. This includes identified archaeological material found accidentally or through other activity, including treasure. Ordinary lost-property and treasure rules do not make archaeological material yours to keep.

Resolution 659 of October 20, 2025, Annex 1, paragraph 10, requires archaeological items found through search, design, excavation, construction, land improvement, forestry and other work to be transferred by a handover document to state institutions with a special storage collection. For accidental finds, the schemes appended to Annexes 1 and 2 direct citizens to hand items to state science, culture or education institutions when the item is found. This is qualitative timing, not a single numerical day count for every accidental find.

Research finds have separate deadlines. Resolution 659, Annex 2, paragraph 4, requires handover to state institutions by the end of the first quarter of the year after the research; the appended schemes say after archaeological research ends. Under cultural heritage law article 22, researchers at archaeological monuments must also submit their report to the Cultural Heritage Agency and hand finds of historical, scientific, cultural or other value to the state in the prescribed procedure after excavation and search end, and before their permits expire.

For archaeological items that remain where they were found, Annex 2, paragraph 13, requires the archaeologist holding an open certificate and permit to arrange conservation with the Cultural Heritage Agency’s territorial offices. The items must be described, photographed and included in the scientific report. This research provision does not replace the accidental-find instructions.

Source dates and unresolved questions

This guide uses official texts checked on October 9, 2026. The archaeological heritage law’s revision selector is dated December 30, 2025; the cultural heritage law’s is dated July 27, 2026, and the Civil Code’s September 12, 2026. The linked Russian Water Code is labeled an unofficial translation; recent Russian cultural-heritage passages are also labeled unofficial, so the updated authority and reporting provisions above use the Uzbek text. Ordinary hobby rules remain unconfirmed for the country generally, inland beaches, state forests, private land and park areas outside strict reserves. That uncertainty is not permission to detect or dig.

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