Business news from Ukraine

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT SIGNS BILL ON FARMLAND TURNOVER INTO LAW

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed into law a bill amending a number of Ukrainian legislative acts on the conditions for the turnover of farmland, which the Verkhovna Rada passed on March 31, 2020.
“The document provides for the formation of a legislative framework for introducing market-based turnover of farmland. The law signed by the president will empower citizens to exercise their constitutional rights to freely dispose their property and will provide for transparent terms for acquiring ownership of agricultural plots of land by citizens of Ukraine,” the president’s press service said on Tuesday.

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LCF LAW GROUP ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF ITS BUSINESS

LCF Law Group has announced the expansion of its business by adding the teams of the Evris Law Firm and the Sheverdin and Partners attorneys association and introducing new practices.
The company said in its press release that it launches such new practices as tax law, antitrust and competition law, intellectual property law, as well as criminal law and cross-border investigations.
As a result of the integration of two law firms, the company’s team will increase to more than 60 lawyers, including nine partners.
The executive team remains unchanged: Managing Partner Hanna Ohrenchuk and Senior Partner Artem Stoyanov.
The integration will be fully completed by the end of May 2020.

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UKRAINE ADOPTS LAW ON LAND MARKET FROM JULY 1, 2021

The Verkhovna Rada at an extraordinary meeting has adopted a law on opening the land market from July 1, 2021 with the restriction of its operation in the first three years only to land plots owned by individuals with a maximum ownership of 100 hectares per capita. According to an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent, 259 MPs voted for bill No. 2178-10 on farmland turnover at second reading and as a whole on Tuesday night with the quorum being 226 votes.
The votes for the law were distributed as follows: Servant of the People with 206 votes, European Solidarity with 23 votes, Holos with 13, Dovira with 12, non-affiliated with five votes. The factions of Opposition Platform-For Life, Batkivschyna, and For the Future group did not give a single vote in support.
The document stipulates that from January 1, 2024 legal entities will be able to purchase agricultural land, the concentration threshold per entity will increase to 10,000 ha. The sale of agricultural land of state and municipal property is prohibited.
In addition, banks get the opportunity to obtain land as recovery of collateral, however, such land plots should be sold at auction within two years.
According to the bill, the access of foreigners to the land market will depend on the results of the national referendum.
In addition, it is stipulated that until January 1, 2030 the selling price of agricultural land plots allocated to land plot holders cannot be less than their regulatory monetary value.

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PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE SIGNS LAW ON COUNTERING RAIDING

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has signed the law on amending the Land Code of Ukraine and some other legislative acts to combat raiding adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on December 5, 2019.
According to information on the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, on January 13 the document was returned with the signature of the president.
As reported, bill No. 0858 establishes that if a party to the contract wishes to refuse to automatically renew the land lease, then no later than 30 calendar days before the expiration of the contract, it must submit an application to the state register of property rights. In the absence of such a statement after the relevant expiration date of the contract, it is extended for the same period and with the same conditions.
The lease payment for land plots of state and municipal property leased at land tenders cannot be reduced by agreement of the parties during the term of the lease, as well as upon its renewal, as indicated in the document.
The bill also provides for the establishment of a guarantee contribution amount per lot at the level of 5% of the starting price for the sale of a land plot and 50% of the starting amount of the annual fee for using a land plot, but not less than 500 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens and not more than 5,000 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens.

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PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY HAS SIGNED A LAW ON SETTLING THE ISSUE OF AMBER PRODUCTION, WHICH THE VERKHOVNA RADA ADOPTED ON DECEMBER 19

According to information on the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, on December 27 the document was returned with the signature of the president.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada adopted as a whole bill No. 2240 on settling the issue of amber extraction, which provides for the introduction of uniform exploration permits with the right to produce amber for a period of five years on plots of up to 10 hectares through ProZorro electronic auctions.
This decision was supported by 279 MPs with the quorum being 226 votes.
According to the bill, access to amber deposits will be regulated by establishing the right of land easements and defining separate Article 971 of the Land Code for exploration and mining on disturbed lands.
In addition, the document introduces criminal liability for illegal mining and administrative liability for violation of mining requirements, as well as toughens liability for non-compliance with land reclamation requirements and the obligation to compensate for losses incurred.

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VERSION OF LAW ON JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES TO REDUCE NUMBER OF APPEALS IN UKRAINIAN COURTS – REVEALING INFORMATION LAW FIRM

The new version of the law on joint-stock companies, proposed by lawmakers representing different parliamentary factions (bill No. 2493) will reduce the number of appeals in courts, but at the same time claims will concern more serious reasons, according to lawyers interviewed by Interfax-Ukraine.
“With regard to judicial practice, final conclusions can be drawn after the signing of the finalized law. But it is predicted that there will be fewer claims than now, but they will be on more significant occasions,” said Managing Partner at the Revealing Information law firm Alexander Keer.
Keer also said toughening the requirements for transparency of the activities of the supervisory boards of a joint-stock company, which is proposed by the bill, will narrow the range of opportunities for “avoiding” the law, which, in turn, will positively influence the number of complaints about violations.
In addition, Keer believes that changing the approach to dividing joint-stock companies into public and private, as well as the refusal to fix their types in joint-stock companies’ names will not significantly affect the business sector.
At the same time, he noted that an “institution of advisers,” which is proposed by the bill, indeed, can simplify the life of enterprises, but this institution will work only in a certain period of time.
“Positive is the simplification of the process of merging, joining, dividing, splitting, reorganizing a company, since this is not only a step towards simplifying a business, but also a step towards reducing the corruption component,” Keer said.

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