Business associations under the auspices of the Ukrainian Business Council are asking to finalize the government’s updated draft law on the Economic Security Bureau (#10439), as it leaves unaccounted for important proposals that jeopardize the reboot of the BEB.
“The most critical of the unaccounted proposals is the composition of the competitive commissions for the recertification of personnel and the mechanism for conducting the recertifications,” the 17 associations said in a statement circulated Thursday.
In their opinion, the detailed mechanism of re-certification should be set out in the draft law, and the commissions themselves should have a predominant voice of international experts who have an impeccable reputation and are well versed in the problems of law enforcement agencies.
Among other ignored proposals, the business pointed out the strengthening of the analytical function of the Bureau by providing free access for the BEB to existing state information systems and establishing criteria for the effectiveness of the work of the renewed BEB and their constant monitoring.
In addition, the appeal notes, it is important to limit access to positions in the BEB to persons with a dubious reputation based on the principle of reasonable doubt, given the small number of corruption cases that have resulted in convictions.
It is also crucial to retain in the final version of the draft the right to an overwhelming vote of international experts when electing the chairperson of the OIE, the document says.
In addition, in order to establish safeguards against unlawful pressure on business by law enforcement agencies, simultaneously with the reset of the BEB, the business requires amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding the introduction of standards of prosecutorial activity, limiting the powers of the National Police and the BEB in terms of assigning instructions to SBU operatives, ensuring the possibility of appealing to the investigating judge against any actions or inaction of the investigator, inquirer, prosecutor.
In addition, the business proposes to introduce a ban on reopening proceedings on the same grounds and seizure of material assets not specified in the ruling of the investigating judge, to establish responsible storage and immediate return to the owners of seized property after the decision, to select a reasonable level of bail and interim measures.
Among other requirements – to impose on investigating judges the obligation to verify compliance with the requirements of jurisdiction and to return the terms of pre-trial investigation and the procedure for their extension in actual criminal proceedings, except for serious and especially serious crimes, referred to the jurisdiction of NABU.
At the same time, the associations noted that the updated government bill on the BEB took into account a number of proposals of the business community, in particular, the election of applicants for the post of the head of the Bureau by a commission with a predominant vote of international experts, immediate recertification of all employees of the Bureau and audit one year and three years after the appointment of a new head.
According to the forecast of Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the first deputy of the Rada’s specialized committee, the bill #10439 will be put to a vote in the first reading as early as Thursday.
BILL, BUSINESS ASSOCIATION, ECONOMIC SECURITY BUREAU, UKRAINE, БЕБ
The European Business Association (EBA) predicts growth in the share of cashless payments of the total volume of payments to 17-20% in 2019 from 12-15% as of late 2018, the association has said in a press release. “This can be favored by the appearance of new technologies on the market that are interesting and convenient for consumers, for example, Apple Pay, Google Pay and others. In addition, the list of points where it is possible to pay using noncash – transport, cultural events, markets and shops – is expanding,” the EBA said.
“Certainly, we want a payment revolution now. One does not need cash to go anywhere and one could pay with a card everywhere, and also to have the card tied to the owner’s fingerprint. However, there are conditions and rates of market development,” said Coordinator of the EBA Electronic Payments Committee Ievgenii Veremiichenko said.
At the same time, in 2019, the business expects the introduction of several new services, among which is the issuance of cash through the POS terminals at the checkout counter of an outlet, the EBA said.
According to its experts, this service will solve the problem of underdeveloped banking infrastructure and provide consumers with access to funds in accounts where there are no bank branches.
The legislative basis for launching this service has been created, market players are making final adjustments and are preparing to start providing this service in the near future, the EBA said.
Along with this, the market expects currency exchange transactions in a cashless form via the Internet banking, which, as the association said, will be available in February.
