Legislative news digest: LEGAL HOTLINE 19.07.2017

THE LAW ON INCREASING THE EXPORT LEVY ON SCRAP METAL WAS SIGNED

Petro Poroshenko has signed the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine “On Foreign Economic Activities” Regarding the Reduction of Ferrous Scrap Deficit on the Internal Market”, No. 1455-VIII of July 12, 2016, which sets export levy rates on ferrous waste and scrap to EUR 30/ton for a one-year period.

PENALTIES FOR LATE SUBMISSION OF TAX INVOICES DUE TO CYBER ATTACK WERE ABOLISHED

The Verkhovna Rada adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Tax Code Regarding the Abolition of Penalties for Late Submission of Tax Invoices and Excise Invoices Due to a Large-scale Cyber Attack”.

The Law exempts taxpayers from punitive penalties for late registration of tax invoices and settlement adjustments drawn up in the period from June 1, 2017 to June 30, 2017 and allows for registration of such tax invoices and excise invoices by July 31, 2017.

Under the Law, punitive penalties at the rate of 10 percent of the repayment amount of the tax debt shall not apply to the agreed amounts of monetary obligations with the payment deadline on June 30, 2017.

The Law has been submitted for signature to the President, so we expect its early entry into force.

VETERINARY AND SANITARY CONTROL WAS ENHANCED

Compliance with the veterinary and sanitary legislation will be controlled by a new body – the Interdepartmental Mobile Group for Preventing and Detecting Breaches of the Veterinary and Sanitary Legislation.

The new body’s mission will be to prevent and stop violations in the field of veterinary medicine, as well as in the area of food safety and quality.
The Interdepartmental Mobile Group will include representatives of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection and the National Police of Ukraine.

The main tasks of the new body will be: to counteract breaches of the veterinary and sanitary legislation, including on the issues of control over the movement of animals and animal produce, detect and stop such violations; to generalize operational and analytical information about possible breaches of the veterinary and sanitary legislation, process and analyse such information.

In the event there is a suspicion of the spread of infection, the Interdepartmental Mobile Group will be able to freely access the controlled facilities, stop vehicles, examine and sample goods, and send them for expert examination.

The Regulations of the Interdepartmental Mobile Group for Preventing and Detecting Breaches of the Veterinary and Sanitary Legislation were approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 460 of July 4, 2017.

THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT WAS GRANTED FINAL APPROVAL

On July 11, 2017, the Council of the European Union approved the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
The Agreement will become fully operational as per September 1, 2017.

THE LIST OF EVENTS OF EARLY REPAYMENT OF FOREIGN CURRENCY LOANS WAS EXPANDED
On July 11, 2017, the Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine No. 61 of July 10, 2017 “On Amendments to the Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine No. 410 of December 13, 2016” came into force.

The amendments introduced by the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine expanded the list of existing exceptions for the early repayment of loans attracted from non-residents, in particular:

• Banks will be able to repay such loans early.
• Businesses will be able to repay loans early, if a shareholder of such a borrower or non-resident lender is an international financial institution.
• Resident borrowers will be able to make early loan repayments, provided that the non-resident lender is a bank.

By their letter No. 30/1/5-4716 of June 28, 2017, representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine communicated that using the software product “1С:Accounting” by enterprises under licenses they purchased prior to the entry into force of the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 133/2017 of May 15, 2017 is not a breach of the current Ukrainian legislation.

THE USE OF THE ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE WHILE CASH SERVICING BANK CLIENTS WAS REGULARIZED

The changes came into force as per July 14, 2017.

Also, the changes stipulate that “cash offices of banks” shall include remote servicing points.

According to these changes, if cash servicing of clients is carried out with the use of electronic signature, the agreement has to contain conditions and procedure for the participants’ recognition of electronic interaction of electronic documents with the use of electronic signature, as well as conditions for the allocation of risks and losses that can be inflicted on a bank, a client, and third parties.

By its Resolution No. 62 of July 11, 2017 “On Approval of Changes to the Instruction on Carrying out Cash Transactions by Banks in Ukraine”, the National Bank of Ukraine approved the improvement of organisation of cash operations by banks in Ukraine, which is related to the introduction by banks of electronic document management, electronic cash records, electronic digital signature and electronic signature on contractual terms with clients.