Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has passed bill No. 5495 about preserving Ukrainian forests and preventing illegal imports of rough timber with remarks of the Ukrainian president. The bill introduces severe punishment for smuggling of round timber and restricting domestic consumption of rough timber to 25 million cubic meters a year. A total of 246 lawmakers backed the bill with the president’s remarks, removing the clause about firewood export ban.
Head of the parliamentary committee for industrial policy and entrepreneurship Viktor Halasiuk said that the parliament must return to the issue and find a possibility of retaining the ban on exports of firewood, under the disguise of which round timber is exported from Ukraine.
As was earlier reported, on July 3, 234 deputies passed the bill (No. 5495) on making amendments to some laws of Ukraine concerning the preservation of Ukrainian forests and preventing the illegal export of unprocessed timber at second reading.
According to amendments taken into account in the second reading of the document, administrative and criminal liability for illegal logging and its timber exports outside customs control (smuggling) has been significantly strengthened.
The Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses, in particular, introduces a clause according to which illegal cutting and transportation, storage of illegally cut trees entail the imposition on citizens of a fine of 15 to 30 nontaxable minimum incomes of citizens (one nontaxable minimum – UAH 17), and on officials – from 75 to 150 nontaxable minimum incomes of citizens.
In case of a repeated offense within a year, the amount of the fine is from 30 to 60 nontaxable minimums for citizens and from 300 to 600 for officials.
In addition, according to changes in Ukraine’s Criminal Code, movement across the customs border of Ukraine outside the customs control or concealment from the uncontrolled control of unprocessed timber or sawn valuable or rare species is punishable by imprisonment for three to five years.
The same actions that have been committed repeatedly or by prior conspiracy by a group of persons or an official using his official position are punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to ten years, with deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions and with confiscation of property.
If these actions are committed by an organized group of individuals or on a particularly large scale, a penalty of imprisonment of ten to 12 years is provided, with deprivation of the right to engage in certain activities for three years and with confiscation of property.
Late July Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko vetoed the bill and returned it to the parliament with his proposals.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law in the second reading and in general to resolve the issue of collective ownership of land, improving land use rules and stimulating irrigation. Some 236 lawmakers voted for the bill, 11 more than the required minimum of 226 votes. The bill introduces the concept of tracts of agricultural land. Within such tracts agrarians will have the opportunity to exchange plots, conclude sublease agreements without the consent of landlords, rent field roads and optimize areas for cultivation. Agrarians who own/use more than 75% of the tract will have priority rights over other users of the tract.
The bill also defines the order of inventory of land plots, which is to take place prior to the creation of arrays. As expected, it will contribute to the updating of the State Land Cadastre. Its results will be approved by local authorities.
The document provides for the protection of the rights of farmers who improve and restore hydraulic reclamation systems. In addition, a mechanism of permanent or urgent land easements is being implemented to introduce measures for land reclamation, which can be established both by contract and by a court decision.
Users of land plots on which hydrotechnical reclamation is carried out have the right to claim compensation for the costs of hydraulic reclamation of adjacent land plots from their owners or users. According to the document, lands of collective agricultural enterprises whose activities are terminated shall be transferred to municipal ownership of a local community.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday passed at second reading bill No. 6027-d amending some Ukrainian laws regarding resumption of lending. According to a posting on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the adoption of the document would ensure the solving of existing problems creating systemic obstacles for resumption of lending to the economy and bringing additional risks for operations of national and foreign investors.
“In the conditions of the enhanced protection of rights of creditors banks would be able to announce more balanced requirements to borrowers. This, of course, would help to spread lending, cut the cost of borrowed funds and ease the access to bank products for economic entities and natural persons,” the NBU said.
Verkhovna Rada in the middle of May 2018 passed at repeated first reading bill No. 6027-d for resumption of lending. During the finalization of the bill, the requirement was clarified, in particular, regarding the banks’ access to the public register of civil status assets. This access is proposed to be provided with the written consent of the individual concerned.
In addition, the creditor’s deadline for submission of claims to heirs from the date of receipt of a certificate of inheritance was reduced from 12 to 6 months. In this case, this rule excludes the situation when the bank did not know and could not know that the moment the inheritance becomes available.
The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, has approved at second reading and as a whole the presidential bill (No. 7440) on the High Anti-Corruption Court. According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, 315 MPs voted for such a decision at a plenary session of parliament on Thursday. In particular, the decision was supported by 123 MPs from the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko, 70 from the People’s Front, 22 from Samopomich, 14 from Batkivschyna, and two votes each from the Opposition Bloc and Oleh Liashko’s Radical Party. The Will of the People and Vidrodzhennia groups gave 18 and 21 votes in favor of the bill, respectively.
Some clauses of this bill were changed before second reading as a result of consultations with the IMF. The most controversial clause concerned the decisive role of the public council of international experts in the selection of judges. The law determines the procedure for holding a competition for the selection of anti-corruption judges.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday passed at first reading bill No. 3871 amending some Ukrainian laws regarding the ban on the use of palm oil in food. A total of 233 lawmakers backed the document.
The bill proposes amending the Code of Administrative Offenses of Ukraine, the laws on milk and dairy products, on the key principles and requirements to safety and quality of food. The amendments introduce administrative punishment for production and sale of food with palm oil content. It is banned to use palm oil in production of dairy products and food made in Ukraine.
The violation of the law implies a fine from 20 to 100 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (UAH 17) imposed on officials. The repeated violation committed during one year after imposing the first fine entails a fine from 100 to 200 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has passed at first reading bill No. 8125 on concession. A total of 240 lawmakers backed the document on Tuesday. Head of the parliamentary committee for the economic policy Andriy Ivanchuk said that the bill divides regulation of concession and other forms of public private partnership, relaxes the rules of allocating land parcels for concession projects, sets the unified rules of making decisions for all types of public private partnership, including concession. The ownership right to the facility under concession is left to the territorial community, he said.
“According to statistics, the EU has signed concession agreements for EUR 12 billion. This is a modern tool that triggers development of infrastructure,” he said, presenting the bill in parliament. Ivanchuk said that the bill requires revision for second reading, in particular, in relation to the concession tender
