Legislative news digest: LEGAL HOTLINE 05.09.2017

THE NBU CONTINUES TO ABOLISH CURRENCY RESTRICTIONS

On August 22, 2017, the National Bank of Ukraine adopted the Resolution No. 81, which entered into force on August 24, 2017. This Resolution removed restrictions on the withdrawal by individuals of foreign currency or banking metals from current and deposit accounts through cash departments and ATMs (the previously established limitation was the equivalent of UAH 250,000.00). It also lifted the prohibition on banks’ issuing savings (depositary) bearer certificates and cancelled the requirement for repayment of previously issued savings (depositary) bearer certificates only by transferring funds to the account of the certificate holder or bearer.
Besides that, on August 29, 2017, the National Bank of Ukraine adopted the Resolution No. 82, which entered into force on August 30, 2017. This Resolution lifted the prohibition for banks to provide customers with loans in national currency (including through open credit lines and by prolonging the previously issued loans), if those provide property rights to funds in foreign currency placed on bank accounts to secure fulfilment of their obligations.

These changes should have a positive impact of the monetary and financial situation and bank lending.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE CERTIFICATES ISSUED TO LABOUR INSPECTORS IS PUBLICLY AVAILABLE

According to the procedure for exercising state control over the observance of labour legislation, which was approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 295 of April 26, 2017, control over the observance of labour legislation shall be carried out by labour inspectors. Herewith, labour inspectors shall have clearly defined powers confirmed by the official certificate of the prescribed format approved by the Order of the Ministry of Social Policy No. 866 of May 24, 2017.

To date, information about the validity of certificates of labour inspectors is publicly available and can be checked online on the website of the State Labour Service of Ukraine in the section “Exercising State Control over the Observance of Labour Legislation” – Information about the Certificates Issued to Labour Inspectors (http://dsp.gov.ua/informatsiia-pro-sluzhbovi-posvidchennia-inspektoriv-pratsi/).

THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE SIGNED THE DECREE ON STRENGTHENING THE CYBERSECURITY MEASURES

On August 31, 2017, the President of Ukraine signed the Decree No. 254/2017, which enacted the Decision of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine of July 10, 2017 “On the Status of Implementing the Decision of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine of December 29, 2016 “On Threats to Cybersecurity of the State and Urgent Measures to Neutralize Them” Enacted by the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 32 of February 13, 2017”. The Decree came into force on September 01, 2017.

According to the provisions of this Decree, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has to introduce the mechanism for attracting individuals and legal entities to outsourced fulfilment of tasks on cybersecurity of state electronic information resources based on the established procedure and within the framework of public-private partnership development, as well as within a three-months period settle the issues of banning state bodies, enterprises, institutions, and state-owned organisations from purchasing services (concluding agreements) on access to the Internet from telecommunications operators (providers) which have no documents confirming the compliance of their information security system with the established requirements in the field of information security.

These and other provisions of this Decree are aimed at strengthening cybersecurity measures and will contribute to the improvement of the current legislation on this issue.

THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE OF UKRAINE PREPARED THE DRAFT LAW ON AMENDMENTS TO THE TAX CODE OF UKRAINE REGARDING THE REGISTRATION OF TAX INVOICES

As it is known, as of July 1, 2017, the new system for risk monitoring and blocking of tax invoices (TI) started its operation, and the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine (SFS) was granted the right to stop the registration of risky TI in the Unified Register of Tax Invoices and make further decision on their registration or denial of registration. Herewith, after stopping the registration of TI, the SFS Commission has to make the respective decision on TI registration or denial of registration within five working days after getting relevant documents from the taxpayer. However, no regulatory legal act currently stipulates, what the taxpayer should do, if he/she does not receive any response from the SFS Commission within five working days determined for the SFS Commission making the decision, and what the consequences of such inaction may be.

Proceeding from this, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine prepared a draft law proposing amendments to Article 201 of the Tax Code of Ukraine, according to which the tax invoice will be automatically registered, if the specified five-day period for making a decision has expired.

In our opinion, the adoption of this draft law will have positive consequences for taxpayers, and the SFS Commission will be more motivated to make appropriate decisions in a prompt manner.