Legislative news digest: LEGAL HOTLINE 26.04.2018

Procedure of execution by banks of operations with letters of credit was changed

On April 20, 2018 the Resolution of Board of the National Bank of Ukraine as of April 11, 2018 No. 38 “On amending of certain regulatory acts of the National Bank of Ukraine” came into force.

The drafters of the Resolution mention that their main goal was adaptation of procedure of execution by banks of operations with letters of credit in national and foreign currencies to up-to-date international practice, maximum refusal of paper documents during servicing of banks’ customers and implementation of electronic document flow at all stages of operations with letters of credit.

The Resolution provides for the following innovations:

• improvement of procedure of execution by banks of operations with letters of credit in national currency (operations are carried out in accordance with international rules UCP 600);
• improvement of procedure of work on letters of credit (the number of formal instructions for transactions under letters of credit was reduced);
• granting to banks and their clients the right to use documents in electronic form at all stages of operations with letters of credit.

The Cabinet of Ministers expands opportunities of mortgage holders regarding illegal acquisition of immovable property

On April 18, 2018 the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has adopted the Resolution No. 286 “On amending of certain acts of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine”, which amends the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers as of October 26, 2016 No. 789-p “On implementation of realization of the pilot project on information sharing in the sphere of state registration of proprietary rights on immovable property and its encumbrances”.

Among others, amendments provide the right of mortgage holder, same as owner of real estate, to receive information regarding real estate object which was transferred into mortgage in the State register of proprietary rights on immovable property and its encumbrances.

Unified requirements for activity of supply of energy to consumers were established

On April 19, 2018 the License conditions for conducting of business activity of energy supply to consumer, approved by the Resolution of National Energy Regulatory Commission as of December 27, 2017 No. 1469, came into force. The License conditions provide an exhaustive list of documents which are required to obtain the license on supply of energy to final consumer.

Besides that, the license conditions establish list of requirements to activity of licensee which can be categorized as following:

• general requirements which are applied to all licensees;
• certain organizational requirements for the suppliers of universal service;
• certain requirements for the providers of “last hope”;
• organizational requirements on price formation, compensations for the consumers and tariffs;
• technological requirements regarding data transferring and informational security of licensee;
• special requirements on commercial activity and property structure of licensee.

Another special requirement for energy suppliers is the obligation to maintain the registry of consumers of the universal service, including vulnerable consumers (persons who have the right to reimburse expenses on electricity).

The Supreme Court will have the right to apply to ECHR for consultations starting from August, 2018

On April 12, 2018 France has ratified the Protocol No. 16 to the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which brought this Protocol into force starting from August 01, 2018 (ratification by 10 member states of the Council of Europe and / or other parties of the Convention was the obligatory condition on its entering into force).
According to the mentioned Protocol No. 16, the highest courts of the member states of the Council of Europe are entitled to apply to the European Court of Human Rights with a request for an advisory opinion on issues relating to rights and freedoms protected by the Convention within the framework of a specific proceeding.
Let us remind that Ukraine has ratified Protocols No. 15 and No. 16 to the Convention on October 5, 2017.