The Verkhovna Rada has amended the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of Ukraine to criminalize smuggling of goods and excisable goods, which is one of the conditions for the last tranche of the EU’s EUR 1.5 billion macro-financial assistance to Ukraine.
According to MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak (Holos faction), the committee’s version of the draft law was adopted, which was amended in accordance with the letters from the Ministry of Finance that the business insisted on.
“1) It is proposed to raise the thresholds for smuggling 5 times. 2) The thresholds for excisable goods are to be raised by 2 times. 3) The entry into force (criminalization) of commodity smuggling is postponed until mid-2024. As I said, this is the deadline under the (memorandum with the) IMF on the BES reboot,” the MP listed the changes.
He added that the numerous wishes of the business community have also been taken into account, and that actions can only be classified as a crime if there is intent.
“Possible cases of prosecution under ‘smuggling’ articles for submitting documents with false information have been significantly limited – in the amended version, they must be the basis for the movement of goods, be subject to mandatory declaration under customs law, and have an impact on determining the amount of customs payments or compliance with non-tariff regulation measures,” Zheleznyak said.
During the voting, no amendments were made to the text submitted by the committee to the Rada for the second reading, but the text itself is not yet available on the parliament’s website.
According to the representative of the relevant committee, Oleksandr Bakumov (Servant of the People), the threshold for criminal liability for smuggling is set at UAH 6.71 million, which is 50 times higher than in the draft law adopted as a basis (UAH 113.5 thousand – IF-U). He added that the threshold for smuggling excisable goods (except for electricity) has been increased by “thirty-three and three and a half times” compared to the original draft (UAH 56.75 thousand).
Members of the European Solidarity and Batkivshchyna parties, who criticized the draft law, called the main problems of the law the presence of law enforcement agencies in the customs control zone with the addition of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) and the unresolved problems that led to the adoption of the law on smuggling decriminalization in 2011.
“Ukraine is the only country in Europe and in the World Customs Organization whose customs authorities are not vested with pre-trial investigation functions… We could have left only what is transported outside the customs posts to be considered smuggling,” says MP Nina Yuzhanina (European Union). According to the current legislation, only the illegal transportation of cultural property, poisonous, potent, explosive substances, radioactive materials, weapons or ammunition, parts of firearms, as well as special technical means of covertly obtaining information is considered smuggling.
The outbreak of hepatitis A has been eliminated in Vinnytsia region, said Ihor Kuzin, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine, Chief State Sanitary Doctor.
“The active phase of the outbreak of viral hepatitis A in Vinnytsia region is over,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday.
At the same time, Kuzin noted, “isolated cases will be recorded for the next few months, given that hepatitis A is a disease with a rather long incubation period.”
According to him, 333 cases were laboratory confirmed between October 16 and December 7: 30 patients are currently undergoing treatment, 267 have been discharged.
“Currently, doctors are detecting ‘secondary’ cases of infection among relatives and friends of patients who did not want to get vaccinated for free,” Kuzin said.
Among the reasons for the outbreak, experts identify asymptomatic course of the disease among market and food production workers, as well as insufficient disinfection of water supply networks.
The Verkhovna Rada has appealed to the European Union member states and EU institutions to support the opening of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. The relevant resolution No. 10315 was voted for by 292 MPs at the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada on Saturday, said Oleksiy Honcharenko, a member of the European Solidarity faction.
“The Verkhovna Rada appeals to the national parliaments and governments of the European Union member states, the EU institutions and calls… to support Ukraine’s aspirations to join the European Union by adopting a decision to open negotiations on Ukraine’s membership in the European Union during the European Council meeting on December 15, 2023,” the text of the appeal reads.
The MPs also called on EU members to increase military assistance to Ukraine both at the national level and within the framework of the European Peace Fund.
As of the end of the first week of December, agrarians in all regions of Ukraine harvested 78 mln tonnes of grains and oilseeds: 57.7 mln tonnes and 20.72 mln tonnes respectively.
As reported by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, grain and legumes were harvested on the area of 10 mln 433 thsd ha with the yield of 54.7 c/ha.
Compared to the same date a year ago, the total harvest is 12.4% higher, or 8.6 million tons, including 32.3% higher, or 14.1 million tons, of grains and 22.5% higher, or 3.8 million tons, of oilseeds. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that this year corn has been harvested from almost 85% of the area, while a year ago – only 66%.
It is noted that ten regions of Ukraine have already completed the harvest. In other regions, the harvesting of corn, sunflower and sugar beets is nearing completion. The leaders in grain harvesting are the farmers of Vinnytsia region, who have harvested more than 5 million tons of grain. This is followed by Poltava and Cherkasy regions, which harvested over 4 million tons of grain each.
In addition, 11.57 million tons of sugar beet were harvested from 244.6 thousand hectares with a yield of 473 c/ha. Although this year’s yield, unlike grain and oilseeds, is lower than last year, due to the expansion of the area by 39.5%, the harvest is 33.7% higher than last year.
As reported, this season winter wheat plantings amounted to 4166 thou hectares (-834 thou hectares compared to the previous season), winter barley – 536 thou hectares (-255 thou hectares), and rapeseed – 1374 thou hectares (+110 thou hectares).
According to the adjusted forecast of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in 2023, farmers will be able to harvest 79.1 mln tons of grains and oilseeds, including 57.5 mln tons of grains and 21.6 mln tons of oilseeds.
In January-November this year, Ukrainian steelmakers cut production of total rolled steel by 7.2% year-on-year to 4.864 million tons, according to preliminary data.
According to Ukrmetallurgprom on Friday, in the first 11 months of this year, steel production decreased by 7.3% compared to January-November 2022, to 5.707 million tons.
Pig iron production during this period decreased by 11.3% to 5.447 million tons.
As reported, in 9M2023, Ukraine reduced production of total rolled products by 17% year-on-year to 3.929 million tons, steel by 16.9% to 4.590 million tons, and pig iron by 19.5% to 4.394 million tons.
In 2022, the country’s steelmaking companies reduced production of total rolled products by 72% year-on-year to 5.350 million tons, steel by 70.7% to 6.263 million tons, and pig iron by 69.8% to 6.391 million tons.
In 2021, the company produced 21.165 million tons of pig iron (103.6% compared to 2020), 21.366 million tons of steel (103.6%), and 19.079 million tons of rolled products (103.5%).
In January-November of this year, Ukraine’s steelmaking companies reduced their earnings from ferrous metal exports by 44.2% year-on-year to $2 billion 433.191 million.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Friday, ferrous metals accounted for 7.38% of total export revenues during this period, while the share was 10.7% in the first eleven months of 2022.
In November, revenues from exports of ferrous metals amounted to $174.380 million, while in the previous month they amounted to $175.8671 million.
At the same time, Ukraine increased imports of similar products by 38.7% to $1 billion 199.391 million over 11 months of this year. In November, the country imported products worth $96.342 million.
In addition, in January-November, Ukraine reduced exports of metal products by 16.4% year-on-year to $821.833 million. In November, exports were worth $57.282 million.
At the same time, imports of steel products increased by 40% to $828.388 million over the same period. In November, Ukraine received $105.347 million worth of these products.
As reported earlier, in 2022, Ukraine’s steelmaking companies reduced revenues from ferrous metal exports by 67.5% compared to 2021, to $4 billion 533.088 million. During this period, ferrous metals accounted for 10.26% of total revenues from exports of goods, compared to 20.49% in 2021. At the same time, last year Ukraine reduced imports of similar products by 38.3% to $954.387 million.
In addition, in 2022, Ukraine reduced exports of metal products by 18.6% to $1 billion 52.512 million. Imports of metal products fell by 42.9% to $643.162 million over the year.
