The Verkhovna Rada Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Committee has recommended that the draft laws on the cancellation of VAT and customs duties on imports of generators and other energy equipment, as well as Starlinks, be passed in the second reading, the head of the parliamentary committee for financial, tax and customs policy Daniil Getmantsev said.
“The purpose of the bills is to introduce short-term tax and customs incentives for the restoration of energy infrastructure, namely exemption from import duty and value added tax (VAT) on imports of generators and other components until May 1, 2023,” he wrote in Telegram.
The corresponding bills № 8196 and № 8197 were voted for by 23 members of the committee.
People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak (faction “Voice”) noted that the bills will go to the session hall during this session and may be adopted.
He specified that the documents also take into account the exemption from payments for postal and express consignments and provide the opportunity to store fuel without a license up to 2 thousand liters.
Nardep noted that the import of equipment under the Energy Community technical assistance is also exempted from VAT and duties.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed laws within the framework of the “customs visa-free regime”.
“I have just signed the documents on accession (of Ukraine) to the Convention on the Facilitation of Formalities in Trade in Goods and the Convention on the Joint Transit Procedure. They are the actual implementation of the” customs visa-free “. We did this in record time and absolutely smoothly by all branches of government,” Zelensky said in a video message.
At the same time, the head of state thanked the diplomats, government members and deputies who ensured such a result.
“Ukraine will be a full member of the EU. We are already closer to Europe than in previous decades,” the president said.
On August 22, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law on amendments to some legal acts of Ukraine on measures of civil protection during planning and development of territories, which, in particular, provides for mandatory placement of bomb shelters in new buildings.
According to the press service of the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, the law provides for a change in approaches to the forming of a system of civil protection structures in the planning and development of territories at the stage of urban planning documentation at the regional and local levels. In particular, the documentation must necessarily contain a section of engineering and technical measures for civil protection, defining a plan for the development of protective structures and ensuring unhindered access to shelters.
“Today, more than ever, Ukraine needs the development of a network of reliable shelters and storage facilities that will protect people from the risks associated with hostilities. The development of such a network should become mandatory and ubiquitous, which will make our communities safer and more secure,” Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Oleksiy Chernyshov said.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada adopted respective bill No. 7398 on July 29.
Law, philology and IT specialties are traditionally in the highest demand among applicants to Ukrainian universities, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Serhiy Shkarlet said.
“In 2020-2022, in the structure of the state order, much attention is paid to engineering high-tech specialties, that is, professions of the future. But traditionally, the most active specialties in terms of demand are law, philology and IT specialties,” Shkarlet said on the air of the national telethon on Thursday afternoon .
At the same time, the minister noted that today there is also a significant demand for the specialty “psychology” (11,000 applications have already been submitted) and “pedagogy” (9,000 applications).
The Verkhovna Rada on Thursday adopted an updated law on privatization (No. 7451), which will transfer large privatization to Prozorro auctions without advisers, speed up small privatization and remove a number of problematic issues.
233 deputies voted “for” with the required minimum of 226, according to information on the parliament’s website.
“Regarding large privatization. The main thing that has changed is that we are transferring all large privatization to Prozorro. All procedures have been prescribed as it is in small privatization,” one of the main innovations was named earlier in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine and. about. Head of the State Property Fund Olga Batova.
According to her, large-scale privatization, in the form in which it was and in which it is now, has shown the inefficiency of advisers. Among the claims against them, the head of the Fund singled out the lengthy preparation of the object for privatization; duplication of transactions with potential buyers, in particular on audit; potential corruption risks of engagement by one of the potential buyers.
“The draft law proposes that the Foundation will make a virtual folder (data room) with all the information about the enterprise: all valid contracts, court cases, financial statements – we fully set out and give each potential buyer three months to do an audit on their own,” she described the proposed new procedure, the head of the SPF.
With regard to small-scale privatization, she pointed out that the law further simplifies procedures, for example, introduces an online signature of the auction protocol, shortens the entire process from the moment the auction is announced to the signing of the contract to two months, introduces the possibility in some cases to do without the AMCU, cancels the requirement to publish in newspaper “Vedomosti Privatization”.
“In addition, we have provided for a very important change that will always be in effect: so that payment for the object is made before the signing of the contract – after the auction and the signing of the protocol, but before the signing of the contract,” the head of the SPF stressed. According to her, there are several cases, especially in the auctions held at the end of February, that buyers do not want to pay, arguing that it was force majeure.
Another important norm, she called the possibility of selling objects with arrests, which will allow creditors to finally receive their funds. “We propose to re-register the ownership of the winner of Prozorro, but all arrests will remain until the new owner repays the debt,” she explained.
“The list for privatization today includes a little more than 115 enterprises. There are many more objects,” Batova said.
The Law on the Anti-Corruption Strategy of Ukraine until 2025 came into force on Sunday, after its publication on Saturday in the Voice of Ukraine newspaper.
According to the Telegrams of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC), the NAPC with the government, the public and business have already begun joint work to develop a state program to implement the Anti-Corruption Strategy. It will define specific tasks to overcome corruption and the authorities responsible for their implementation. The NAPC will ensure that the process is as inclusive as possible.
In addition, the NAPC will develop a special IT tool so that the public can monitor the implementation of the anti-corruption strategy.
The law was adopted by Parliament on June 20 and signed by the President of Ukraine on July 7.
The Anti-Corruption Strategy consists of four sections. The first one is devoted to the concept of formation of anti-corruption policy in Ukraine in the next five years. The remaining sections of the document contain a description of certain problems and expectations of strategic results to be achieved in order to solve them.
As noted in the law, the Anti-Corruption Strategy will help ensure the coherence and consistency of anti-corruption activities of all state authorities and local governments.
According to the document, the optimization of the functions of the state and local self-government provides for the elimination of duplication of powers by different bodies, the temporary cessation of the implementation of ineffective powers, which are characterized by a high level of corruption risks. The strategy also provides for the digital transformation of the exercise of powers by state authorities and local governments, transparency of activities and openness of data.
It also provides for the need to ensure the inevitability of legal liability for corruption and corruption-related offences.
According to the adopted law, a working group on anti-corruption policy issues (a coordinating working consultative and advisory group) will be created under the NAPC as a body co-chaired by the head of the NAPC and the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The personal composition of the working group is approved by the government, in particular, by agreement, people’s deputies can also enter it. Its main tasks are to promote the coordination of actions of state authorities on the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy and the implementation of measures of the state anti-corruption program.
The Verkhovna Rada annually no later than June 1 will have to hold parliamentary hearings on the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy. At the same time, the NAPC undertakes to develop a new draft Anti-Corruption Strategy no later than August 1 of the year in which the previous one ends. In addition, the National Agency must annually inform the Cabinet of Ministers by April 1 about the results of the implementation of the measures of the state anti-corruption program to implement the Anti-Corruption Strategy.
