The Verkhovna Rada has approved the decree of President Volodymyr Zelensky on prolonging the term of martial law.
People’s deputies supported the corresponding bill No. 9532 by a total of 347 votes at the plenary session on Thursday, member of the Golos faction Yaroslav Zheleznyak said in his Telegram channel.
The term of martial law in Ukraine continued for 90 days from 05.30 am on August 18, 2023.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada on May 2 approved the presidential decree extending the term of martial law until August 18.
June 10 the Verkhovna Rada adopted on second reading and as a whole the government bill on consumer protection (№ 6134).
According to the website of the parliament, 263 people’s deputies voted in favor of the bill, while the minimum required number of 226 votes, but the transcript of the meeting is still missing.
As noted by the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk in Telegram, the bill was developed in order to bring national legislation on consumer protection closer to EU legislation and harmonize the consumer protection system in Ukraine with EU principles, approaches and practices.
According to him, the document will, in particular, make it possible to achieve compatibility between the systems of consumer protection in Ukraine and the EU; increase the level of consumer protection in e-commerce; create a level playing field for e-commerce entities and fair competition and reduce the burden on businesses by eliminating obsolete regulations.
The bill was introduced in the Rada back in October 2021, passed on first reading in October 2022, and then further revised several times, including after the comments of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.
As the committee pointed out after reconsideration of the comments, 125 out of 324 proposals have been fully considered, and 6 were partially considered.
Among the innovations of the law, in particular, the portal e-buyer – a single state web portal for consumers in the field of e-commerce. This is an electronic information and communication system that collects, accumulates, processes, protects, records and provides consumers with information about e-commerce entities, as well as communication of e-commerce entities, consumers and the state regulator.
During the period of martial law, the Verkhovna Rada has simplified the export, import and transit of agricultural products to Ukraine, which will expand the access of farmers to fertilizers and genetic material of farm animals, as well as support the Ukrainian organic industry.
Relevant bill No. 7264 on uninterrupted production and supply of agricultural products during martial law was adopted as a whole at a meeting on May 12 by the votes of 313 MPs, with the required 226 votes, MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak (the Holos faction) said on his Telegram channel on Thursday.
“The task of the state is to simplify farming under martial law as much as possible and reduce the bureaucratic burden on business and government bodies. This applies, in particular, to the state registration of pesticides and agrochemicals, which is extremely important during the spring sowing campaign in 2022. Also it is important to support niche agriculture and organic production,” according to an explanatory note to the bill.
The bill abolishes state registration of agrochemicals imported into Ukraine, including some types of nitrogen fertilizers, ammonium nitrates, ammonia in aqueous solution, thiosulfates, potassium, calcium and aluminum phosphates, borates, zinc chelate and a number of others mineral fertilizers until the end of martial law and for 90 days after its cancellation.
In addition to the simplified import of such types of fertilizers, the bill cancels the state registration procedure for their production, sale, use and advertising.
Bill No. 7264 also proposes, until July 1, 2024, to allow organic producers to use the label “organic,” “biodynamic,” “biological,” “ecological,” “organic,” even if they are not operators of organic products in accordance with law No. 2496-VIII on the turnover of organic products.
According to the explanatory note to the document, this initiative allows Ukrainian producers of organic products that produced according to EU standards, but did not meet the status of an operator of organic products according to Ukrainian standards, to switch to Ukrainian production standards without an additional transition period. It also allows them to qualify for government support.
The bill expands the list of entities that can take samples and conduct phytosanitary examination, in particular, introduces a simplified procedure for involving private laboratory employees in examination until the end of martial law and 90 years after it is canceled, and also authorizes agronomists-inspectors to conduct such inspections to conduct an audit on certification.
In addition, the bill allows the import of cargoes of live animals in transit through countries where there are cases of disease from the list of the World Organisation for Animal Health to Ukraine. According to the authors of the bill, this will allow the Ukrainian livestock industry to gain access to modern breeding genetic material from the EU countries and expand the diversity of breeding material of agricultural animals in Ukraine.
During the discussion of the document at the second reading, the MPs supported the amendment of MP Oleh Kulinich (the deputy group Dovira), specifying that state registration of pesticides is not required in cases where the active ingredient of the pesticide is marked in the EU Pesticides Database as permitted for use.
ANIMALS, FERTILIZERS, IMPORT, PHYTOSANITARY CERTIFICATES, RADA
The Verkhovna Rada has registered a draft law restricting the circulation of medicines produced in the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus.
Relevant bill No. 7313 of April 25, 2022, authored by a group of MPs of the Servant of the People faction, including head of the Committee on Public Health, Medical Assistance and Medical Insurance Mykhailo Radutsky, was registered in the Verkhovna Rada.
As reported, according to First Deputy Minister of Health Oleksandr Komarida, state registration in Ukraine of medicines (all or selectively determined by the Ministry of Health) of an applicant may be temporarily canceled (registration certificate terminated) if it is established that this applicant or his representative is directly or indirectly related to with business entities that are directly or indirectly involved in production of medicines on the territory of the aggressor state (the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus).
In addition, the registration of a drug may be canceled if, after February 23, 2022, the applicant participated in at least one of the stages of production of any medicinal product or active pharmaceutical ingredients by an enterprise located on the territory of the aggressor state.
The European Solidarity parliamentary faction calls for an extraordinary plenary meeting of the Verkhovna Rada, co-chair of the faction Artur Herasymiv said.
“European Solidarity demands to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Verkhovna Rada with an agenda that will correspond to the realities and problems of today. That is why we are writing a letter to the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine [Ruslan Stefanchuk] so that the extraordinary meeting of the Verkhovna Rada was urgently convened, for this we will receive subscription lists and collect signatures of MPs,” Herasymiv said.
He said the agenda of such an extraordinary meeting should include a report by the President of Ukraine on the state of defense and foreign policy, subject to the threat of escalation due to the Russian armed aggression, a report by the Prime Minister on the measures taken to overcome the crisis in the economy and price increases, in particular for energy and utilities, the report of the Defense Minister on the provision of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including fuel and lubricants, and the implementation of the 2021-2022 state defense procurement order, the report of the Energy Minister on the state of the energy industry amid the problems of the heating season, cuts in heat and electricity in residential buildings, as well as imports of electricity and coal from Russia and Belarus.
European Solidarity also calls on to hear the report of the Health Minister on minimizing the negative consequences of COVID-19 epidemic (providing vaccines and oxygen for 2022, increasing salaries for doctors and “COVID” payments), as well as instructing the Cabinet of Ministers to apply measures to provide from January 1, the minimum amount of cash support for servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at a level not lower than two times the average salary.
The Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning recommended the parliament to adopt at the second reading bill No. 5655 on reforming the sphere of urban planning, co-author of the bill, head of the coordination council for solving problematic issues in urban planning, MP Olena Shuliak wrote on Facebook.
“For many months, together with all market participants, we have analyzed each of 2,000 edits in detail and publicly, took into account the comments, and heard the recommendations. Even the NACP confirmed after the analysis: No. 5655 takes into account the requirements of the Anti-Corruption Strategy 2021-2025,” she said.
Earlier, Shuliak reported that the bill on urban planning reform could be adopted by the end of 2021.
As reported, on July 1, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law No. 5655 at the first reading.
