Legal Hotline | Digest of the main legislative changes in Ukraine 04.02.2022

Age or gender worded in the job description may cause a fine

Article 24¹  of the Law of Ukraine “On Advertising” shall be effective as of 8 January 2022, according to which an employer will be fined for violation of the anti-discrimination norm if the vacancy summaries contain the desired sex, age of the candidate or specific requirements, in particular, but not exclusively, with regard to property, residence, religious beliefs, etc.

The fine will be equal to 10 times the minimum wage, which is equivalent to UAH 65,000.00.

The State Labor Service will draw up a procedural document on a fine on the basis of an inspection report as of the results of the case review, the examination of the materials, and the existence of grounds for a fine.

The employer shall pay a fine to the state budget at the employer company’s registered address.

Employment notification: updated form

On 5 January 2022 the amendments in relation to the form and procedure for notification by employers (hereinafter referred to as the “Notification”) of the State Tax Service authorities of employees hired in connection with legal developments due to implementation of the Law of Ukraine on Diia City, came into effect.

Summary of main developments:

• starting from 5 January 2022 the Notification to the STS authorities should be submitted in a new form
• the Notification should be delivered electronically and signed by a qualified electronic signature. Unless technically feasible, the Notification may be submitted in a hard copy form accompanied by its electronic copy
• section numbering and its sequence have been changed in the Notification form
• the Notification has been brought into line with the requirements of DSTU 4163:2020. As a reminder, a chief executive/director and a chief accountant shall indicate only their names and surnames at the signature (no patronymic).

The main reason for these changes is the entry into force of the Law on the Diia City, introducing a new legal regime for IT companies in Ukraine. Please note that GOLAW held a number of webinars on this issue, which you can find here and here.

We should remind that IT company included to the legal regime of Diia City means the acquisition of the status of a Diia City resident by the last. As a consequence, IT company may cooperate with IT specialists under a gig contract. Thus, Diia City residents are obliged to report to the STS not only on their employees, but also hired gig workers.

The procedure for obtaining a construction permit for the shopping mall will be simplified

The Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine elaborated a draft resolution on the issuance of permits for the construction of objects with CC2 and CC3 class of consequences automatically through the Unified State Electronic System.

These include, in particular, the issuance and registration of a construction permit (other than restoration) through the Unified State Electronic Construction System (USECS).

The introduction of such a mechanism will ensure a transparent and user-friendly application process: it will minimize the number of documents required to obtain the service, and it will create conditions for a transparent decision to grant the permit. Thus, the decision will be taken after an automatic analysis of the information provided by the applicant in the application, its completeness, format, logic, and reliability.

It is to remind that objects of СС2 and СС3 class of consequence include, inter alia, residential houses exceeding 5 floors, residential complexes of multi-storey houses, complexes with malls and public centers.

Results of administrative services may be obtained by mail

The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine informed of the possibility to obtain the results of administrative services by mail.

Citizens will be able to receive the following by mail, in particular:

• permit documents;
• extracts from state registers;
• results of pension services;
• information on registration of internally displaced persons, etc.

Until now, there has been no single legal procedure for delivering the results of the administrative services. It will no longer be necessary to visit the Administrative Services Centre several times.

Thus, the results of the administrative services can be delivered to the place of domicile or post office. Letters to legal entities will be sent to post office boxes, clerical offices, or will be handed to a representative.