Consular protection is the help an EU Member State can provide to its citizens in case they need assistance abroad. Typically, consular protection can include cases such as:

• A need for emergency travel documents;
• A serious accident or serious illness;
• Relief and repatriation in case of an emergency;
• Being a victim of crime;
• Arrest or detention;
• Death.

In Uzbekistan, 10 EU Member States have a resident Embassy, while 17 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden) do not.

You are an EU citizen in need of consular protection in Uzbekistan?

• You can contact your resident Embassy/Consulate/ Honorary Consul able to provide consular protection.
• If your EU Member State has no resident Embassy/ Honorary Consul able to provide consular protection in Uzbekistan, you can turn to another EU Member State for consular protection.

Any EU citizen abroad whose own Member State has no local representation is entitled to receive consular protection from the diplomatic or consular authorities of any other EU Member State. In that case, EU citizens are entitled to benefit from consular protection under the same conditions as the nationals of that other EU Member State.

You can find contact details of the resident EU Member States Embassies/Honorary Consuls who can provide consular protection in Uzbekistan here.

Embassy of Italy represents Cyprus, Greece, Portugal and Spain for consular protection.

Embassy of Latvia represents Estonia for consular protection

Embassy of Poland represents Spain for consular protection

Please note that the EU Delegation in Uzbekistan cannot provide direct consular assistance.

As an EU citizen, you can take simple steps to make consular protection more effective, for example:

• Following the travel advice issued by your country’s Foreign Ministry.
• When abroad, registering with your Embassy/Consulate/Honorary Consul through dedicated platforms, if applicable.
• Other tips include keeping an electronic copy of your travel documents, subscribing to a travel insurance or saving crisis contact details.

The right to consular protection for unrepresented EU citizens is set out in Articles 20(2)c and 23 of the EU Treaty and Article 46 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

On this basis, the Council adopted, on 20 April 2015, an EU Directive on consular protection for unrepresented European citizens living or travelling outside the EU.

A special form of consular assistance is the issuance of emergency travel documents. On 18 June 2019, the Council adopted a Directive on an EU emergency travel document. The Directive sets the formalities for unrepresented EU citizens in third countries whose passport or travel document has been lost, stolen or destroyed, to ensure that they are provided with an emergency travel document by another member state, to enable them to travel home.

For more information on consular protection, see the dedicated pages on the websites of the EEAS, the European Commission and the Council of the EU.