Draft

Draft on tax reform

The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has presented the public Draft on tax reform. The project stipulates creation of the financial police, instead of the tax police, whose activities will be controlled by the Ministry. It introduces the concept of a “taxpayer’s electronic account”. The document states that the plan on carrying out tax inspections shall be published on the website of the Ministry. The inspection period will last 30 days and notification about an inspection shall be delivered in 15 business days instead of 10. Moreover, the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine (SFSU) database is transferred to the Ministry of Finance.

The Ministry of Finance shall be deal with tax management, VAT refund registers, and registration of taxpayers.

The Draft stipulates that the SFSU shall provide advice orally, while the Ministry of Finance — provides it in written or electronic form. The new tax rate of personal income tax (PIT) shall be introduced — 10% of the minimum wage for those who are engaged in individual activities without being registered as an entrepreneur. Therefore, the new category of taxpayers shall appear — individuals who are physical persons and are engaged in individual activities without being registered as an entrepreneur with annual income up to 250 minimum wages established by the law as of 1 January of the reporting year. It is also proposed to merge two VAT refund registers into one.

The project involves increasing the per diem amount for each day of a foreign trip — to 0.75 of minimum wage but not more than EUR 40. It is also proposed to increase fines for late registration of a VAT invoice by up to 50% VAT.

Compulsory health insurance proposed

Olga Bohomolets, the head of Verkhovna Rada Committee on Health, has registered Draft Act No.4981-2, which provides for introduction of compulsory state social health insurance from 1 January 2018 in Ukraine. Funds for medical support are assumed to be raised through targeted insurance contributions from the income of citizens. This should ensure provision of free medical services to insured persons on occurrence of the insured event to the extent and under conditions specified in insurance program throughout the entire territory of Ukraine. In this case, under this system all citizens will be insured persons, including non-working pensioners, disabled people, students and children under 16. Legal relations between insurers, insured persons and health institutions shall be regulated on a contractual basis.

The explanatory memorandum states that medical care shall be provided by health care institutions from the funds accumulated in the compulsory state social health insurance system. This should promote competition among medical institutions.

Draft Act on Environmental Impact Assessment

Draft Act No.2009-d aims to establish the legal and institutional basis of environmental impact assessment and to ensure fulfillment of commitments within the framework of international treaties by Ukraine: Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention); Convention on the Access to Environmental Information and Public Participation in Environmental Decision Making (Aarhus Convention).

Failure by Ukraine to meet a number of its obligations has already become the subject of consideration and adoption of a decision on recognition of Ukrainian legislation as such that does not comply with provisions of Aarhus Convention and Espoo Convention.

Adoption of this Act is stipulated by the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU to ensure implementation of provisions of the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council into national legislation: 2011/92/EC on assessment of the impact of certain public and private projects on the environment and 2003/4/EC on public access to information on the environment.

International judicial cooperation

On 9 August 2016 Parliament registered the Draft Act of Ukraine On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Certain Issues of International Judicial Cooperation. The party of the initiative is the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The Draft’s authors propose to supplement the Economic Procedural Code of Ukraine, the Civil Procedural Code and the Administrative Court Procedure Code of Ukraine with provisions related to:

— the procedure for forwarding judgment to persons who participated in the trial, but did not attend the court hearing, and who are resident abroad, providing that the decision is forwarded to them by means of a court order;

— possibility to deliver documents set out in a foreign language only if the person agrees to receive them (in this case delivery is voluntary and does not entail obligation of the court that delivers them to translate such documents).

The Draft stipulates introduction of amendments to Article 398 of the Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine, by which from the scope of regulation of this provision cases where recognition and enforcement of judgments based on the principle of reciprocity are excluded, as well as cases when appeals are made against execution of decisions by foreign and international arbitrations. The proposed amendment shall regulate the enforcement of foreign judgments in cases where multilateral and bilateral international treaties of Ukraine provide for the possibility of filing such requests from abroad by an interested person through the central authorities responsible for implementation of these treaties (in Ukraine this is the Ministry of Justice).