The gov.uz Domain: Procedure and Preparation for Government Bodies

When citizens look up a public service, they first want to be sure the site is official. Pages imitating ministries, district administrations (hokimiyats) or inspectorates are common, and some exist to collect payments or personal data. The gov.uz zone addresses this: it is a second-level zone reserved for government bodies, and not just anyone can register in it. The gov.uz ending therefore signals an official source.

Who can use a gov.uz domain

As a general principle, domains in this zone are intended for state authorities: ministries, committees, agencies, regional and district hokimiyats and similar bodies. Rules may differ for subordinate institutions, state-owned enterprises or projects. Exact eligibility criteria are set by the current rules of the organization administering the .uz zone and are updated from time to time, so read the procedure published on the zone administrator's official website before preparing an application.

If your organization does not qualify, a regular .uz domain can still host a trustworthy site; you then need to show official status on the site itself through organization details, an official address and links from other official sources.

Preparing the application

The document list depends on the rules, but settling these points in advance almost always speeds things up:

• The name: short, a commonly accepted Latin abbreviation or clear spelling of the organization's name.
• An official request letter, usually on letterhead and signed by the head.
• Responsible staff for administrative and technical contact, with work phones and official email.
• Technical details: where the site will be hosted and which name servers it will use.

Choose the name carefully. After reorganization or renaming, changing a domain is slow and the old address lingers on documents and other sites, so a stable short name beats a long official title.

Example: a district hokimiyat's new website

A district administration used for years a site on an ordinary domain that an employee had registered personally. When he changed jobs, nobody renewed it and the site went offline overnight. Citizens could not find the appeals page, while the old address remained on social media and printed notices. The administration then obtained a gov.uz domain through the official procedure, named two staff members by position as contacts, and planned to redirect the old domain if it could be recovered. The lesson: a government domain must never depend on one individual.

Hosting and data

Government sites receive citizens' appeals, application forms and other personal data. Uzbek legislation sets requirements for processing and storing citizens' personal data, including storage on servers located in the country. Specific obligations depend on the organization and the data, so agree on this with your lawyer or information security officer. Hosting on servers in Uzbekistan makes compliance easier, and a Tas-IX connection helps pages load fast for local users.

Technical minimum: SSL, DNS and checks

An official site must run over HTTPS; a browser warning destroys trust even on an official domain. Use an auto-renewing certificate or track its expiry. Basic checks once the site is live:

# Which name servers serve the domain
dig +short NS tuman.misol.gov.uz

# The site's address
dig +short A tuman.misol.gov.uz

# Who the SSL certificate is issued to and until when
echo | openssl s_client -connect tuman.misol.gov.uz:443 -servername tuman.misol.gov.uz 2>/dev/null \
  | openssl x509 -noout -subject -dates

Configure SPF, DKIM and DMARC for official mail too, since spoofing a government sender is attractive to fraudsters.

When the responsible person changes

1. Keep all domain, hosting and mail access in official accounts, not personal ones.
2. Use a position-based official email as the contact address.
3. When an employee leaves, change passwords and update contacts with the zone administrator.
4. Put domain and SSL expiry dates into the annual plan.

For technical questions about hosting, SSL or DNS you can consult sayt.uz support; for the gov.uz registration procedure itself, always rely on the zone administrator's current rules.