Legislative news digest: LEGAL HOTLINE 10.10.2017

THE PARLIAMENT ADOPTED THE JUDICIAL REFORM

On October 3, 2017, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted on second reading and as a whole the draft Law No. 6232 “On Amendments to the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Code of Administrative Proceedings of Ukraine, and Other Legislative Acts”. The draft Law provides for a large number of amendments to the main procedural codes, in particular:

• Introduction of the principles of functioning of the electronic court;
• Introduction of a new means of proof – electronic proof (electronic documents, websites, text, multimedia and voice messages, metadata, databases, and other data in electronic form);
• Establishment of the High Intellectual Property Court within the system of commercial legal proceedings;
• Determination of the Supreme Court as the only cassation instance in Ukraine and introduction of a new procedure for consideration of cases by this court;
• Providing for the possibility in administrative proceedings to consider exemplary cases and make exemplary decisions, which will be taken into account by all the courts in the future;
• Providing for the varieties and consequences of abuse of procedural rights;
• Limitation of the right to appeal in cassation;
• Limitation of the timeframe for submitting evidence.

THE PARLIAMENT ADOPTED THE PENSION REFORM

On October 3, 2017, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted on second reading and as a whole the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Pensions Increase” (draft Law No. 6614).

The draft Law provides for the change of the pay-as-you-go pension insurance system, differentiation of the amounts of pensions depending on the acquired pension insurance record and earnings, unified approaches to the calculation of pensions, etc.

The draft Law provides for automatic indexation of pensions. As of January 1, 2019, it is planned to introduce the accumulative pension insurance system. The draft Law also stipulates that working retired persons will receive salaries and pensions in full.

NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR PACKAGING AND MARKING OF SEEDS ARE ALREADY IN FORCE

On September 29, 2017, the new Procedure for Marking and Packaging of Seed Lots, which was approved by the Order of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine No. 348 of July 10, 2017 and established the basic requirements for marking and packaging seed lots of agricultural plants intended for storage, sowing, and sale, came into force.

THE LAW ON ELECTRONIC TRUST SERVICES WAS ADOPTED

On October 5, 2017, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Electronic Trust Services” (draft Law No. 4685).

The draft Law determines the list of electronic trust services, namely:

• Creation, verification, and validation of an advanced electronic signature or a stamp;
• Formation, verification, and confirmation of the validity of the certificate of an electronic signature or a stamp;
• Formation, verification, and confirmation of the validity of a website authentication certificate;
• Formation, verification, and validation of the electronic timestamp;
• Registered electronic delivery;
• Storing of advanced electronic signatures, stamps, electronic timestamps, and certificates related to these services.

Legislative regulation of the above-mentioned services in Ukraine will enable business to enter a new level of official and secure cooperation in the electronic form.

CHANGES IN THE ACCOUNTING

On October 5, 2017, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the draft Law No. 4644-d, which amended the Law of Ukraine “On Accounting and Financial Reporting in Ukraine”.

The major amendments include:

• New definitions of income and expenditure, as well as net income;
• Revision of the principles of accounting and financial reporting;
• Classification of enterprises for the purpose of preparation of financial statements based on the new criteria;
• Determining that insignificant shortcomings in the primary documents will not be grounds for non-recognition of an economic transaction, provided certain conditions are observed (the possibility to identify the person, who participated in conducting the economic transaction, if these documents contain information about the date of drawing up the document, the name of the enterprise, the name of the person, on whose behalf the document was drawn up, the content and scope of the economic transaction).

If signed by the President, the Law will come into force as from January 1, 2018 (except for some provisions related to the disclosure of financial statements, which will come into force as from January 1, 2019).

THE LAW ON CYBERSECURITY WAS ADOPTED

On October 5, 2017, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Basic Principles of Ensuring Cybersecurity of Ukraine” (draft Law No. 2126a). The Law establishes the legal and organisational principles of ensuring cybersecurity in Ukraine, as well as the directions and principles of state policy on cybersecurity, powers of state authorities, enterprises, institutions, organisations, individuals, and citizens in this area, and the basic principles of coordination of their activities.