Legislative news digest: LEGAL HOTLINE 12.04.2018

THE NEW RULES FOR CHECKING THE QUALITY OF PRODUCTS BECAME OPERATIONAL

On April 4, 2018, the Law of Ukraine No. 2042-VIII of May 18, 2017 “On State Control over Compliance with the Legislation on Food Products, Forages,
Animal By-products, Animal Health and Welfare” (hereinafter referred to as “the Law”) came into force.

The Law regulates the exercise of state control over the activities of market operators engaged in the production or circulation of food products and forages, including their importation (carriage) into the customs territory of Ukraine.

The State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection will inspect market operators with the frequency sufficient for achieving the objectives of the Law, namely, the increased product safety, and use a unified form of the inspection act. If there is a risk to life and health of citizens, the inspection of businesses will be carried out without prior notice.

Also, the Law established: fines in the amounts of up to UAH 70,000 for violations of the legislation in the field of production and circulation of food products; the controlling body’s right to temporarily suspend the work of the company for up to 10 business days; video recording of inspections by both the inspector and the economic entity; etc.

OPERATIONAL CONDITIONS FOR SUBSOIL USERS WILL CHANGE

The Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of April 4, 2018 amended the Procedure for Holding Auctions for the Sale of Special Permits for Subsoil Use and the Procedure for Granting Special Permits for Subsoil Use, approved by the resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of May 30, 2011, No. 594 and No. 615 respectively.

Subsoil users have been granted a transitional period for conducting the environmental impact assessment procedure. In particular, subsoil users who lack the environmental impact assessment results, have to submit a notification to the Unified Register of Environmental Impact Assessment by June 18, 2018, stating their intention to conduct such a procedure. It is also established that the requirement for subsoil users to conduct an environmental impact assessment procedure within 6 months is included in the list of special conditions for getting a special permit for subsoil use.

The document also provides for the abolition of the fee for the extension of special permits for subsoil use, as well as the fee for the increase in subsoil assets when making changes to special permits.

IT IS PLANNED TO IMPLEMENT THE “SINGLE WINDOW” MECHANISM AT CUSTOMS

On April 5, 2018, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted on first reading the draft Law No. 7010 “On Amendments to the Customs Code of Ukraine and Certain Other Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Introduction of a “Single Window” Mechanism and Optimisation of the Implementation of Control Procedures in the Course of the Movement of Goods across the Customs Border of Ukraine”.

To ensure interaction between declarants and customs authorities, it is proposed to use a single state information web portal called the “Single Window for International Trade”. The “single window” mechanism will provide for the opportunity to submit a set of documents and information necessary for compliance with customs requirements electronically, via the single information web portal.

The creation and functioning of the “Single Window for International Trade” information web portal will be ensured by the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine.

HEADQUARTERS AND MOBILE GROUPS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF WAGE ARREARS STARTED TO WORK

Headquarters controlling the execution by the bodies of the State Enforcement Service of Ukraine of decisions on the recovery of arrears of wages and other payments related to labour relations have been established in all regions of Ukraine. The headquarters are composed of heads of the main territorial departments of justice and heads of bodies of the State Enforcement Service of

Ukraine of respective regions. Moreover, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine created mobile groups for the elimination of wage arrears. As from April 2, 2018, these mobile groups have been regularly checking the state of execution of court decisions on the remuneration of labour by enterprises of Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Mariupol, Toretsk, and Severodonetsk.